Endless Adventure Part One: Nightmare Dawn
by kta250298
Summary: Kendrick Austin was an average kid until his life ended. Now has a second chance, along with a new family and strange powers. All that's left is to accept the light, or the darkness will reclaim him.
1. Chapter 1

My name is Kendrick. Well my real name is, I have many names nowadays. My friends have also given me plenty of nicknames as well, a few I like and others...not so much. but I'm getting ahead of myself. Recently it has occurred to me that I need a new hobby other than saving the worlds all the time. My family has suggested that I take up writing, and create a sort of autobiography. Now where to start...I suppose it be best to start at the beginning.

When I was a younger lad, fifteen if I remember correctly, I was awfully bored all the time. The world I lived in just wasn't that interesting, not to me at least. It was a world full of politics and lies, and the people who had the power to make it better either didn't or made it worse for others, bettering themselves. Everything about our world was known, there are no more adventures and no more heroes. All we had left where our stories and our music. Ah, music. Without it I would not be the man I am today, it has been a key component in my life, and the life of everyone around me, but I'm getting a head of myself again.

One fateful day, probably the most important day of my life, something happened. I can't remember what exactly, somedays I remember it one way and somedays I remember it another. All that matters is that it led to me doing something drastic, suicide or genocide or something, and dying.

I half-expected to suddenly be on some sort of hellish torture device to live out my eternal torment , but instead I was in a sort of office. I didn't strike hell of my list though, it looked like a lawyer's office with the different law books everywhere. Suddenly a chair I hadn't noticed swiveled around to reveal a pale looking man in a black and white business suit.

"Hello." He said, about as nonchalant as you could get.

"Er...Hello" I replied, confused if I was dead or had just dreamed it all.

"My name is Hans," he introduced himself, "and I will be your Afterlife Agent from this point on."

"Afterlife Agent?" I hadn't been expecting that, but then again I hadn't been expecting anything.

"Yes, my duty is mainly to oversee what happens to your soul now that you are dead." He said this as if it happened every day, and then I realized that it might for all I knew.

"So...what happens to me now?" I asked, worried that my first expectation was about to come true. Hans didn't respond at first, he just kind of stared at me seemingly surprised. He open a folder that was laying on his desk and looked over a sheet of paper that had my picture on it, but before I could get a good look he replaced it and closed the folder.

"It's been a while since someone has surprised me Mr. Austin," he said, leaning back in his chair. "most people your age would cry about how this was 'all just a mistake' and that 'I couldn't be dead' because 'I'm too young to die' ~pff~ as if someone could be 'to young to die' young people die all the time."

"Ah, well I figure age is in the mind, so I should have died a long time ago." I stated, rubbing the back of my head. "That and the fact I blew myself up, whatever conscience part of me that realized what was going on knew I wasn't walking away from that."

"You went through with it anyways." He pointed out. I just mumbled a 'yeah' and looked at my shoes, suddenly interested in the plastic at the end their laces.

"Well your in luck, because of your life and how it...ended, you are eligible for a one time deal." Hans started. "I flip a coin, and depending on whether it lands on heads or tails you either suffer endless torment, or get a free wish."

"Any wish?" I asked warily. He confirmed it with a nod. "I'll take that bet." I stated after thinking it over. Hans reached into his suit's pocket, and pulled out a large silver dollar.

"Call it in the air." He said flicking the coin with his thumb. I immediately called out 'tails', and a couple of seconds later the coin landed on the desk. I closed my eyes as it rolled for a bit, suddenly afraid and kicking myself internally for making such a stupid bet. I didn't know what had come over me, I just went with the first thing that popped into my mind. I could hear Hans let out a small gasp, so I slowly opened my eyes.

"No-one has ever won before." He said, pointing to the coin which had indeed landed on tails. "I suppose you'll want to return home now."  
I was about to say yes when I realized something. I can now have anything I wanted, so why would I go back to my terribly boring life.

"No..." I started. "I don't want that, I want a new life. I want to live a life full of adventure!"  
Hans smirked and pulled out a folder from a drawer in his desk. He marked something down with a pen, stood up, and walked from behind the desk to a door I hadn't noticed.

"Come this way and we'll clear up all the details." He opened up the door and ushered me into a room that looked pretty much the same as the other, except that there's a computer on the desk. We sat back down and he typed something into the computer.

"So a life of endless adventure, hmm?." He confirmed. "Well I'm guessing that means that you don't want to return home. That means that you'll need a new body." I was surprised at how well this seemed to be going, but in the back of my mind I was still slightly worried. Something told me that I'd have to choose my words carefully while flushing out my wish.

"Yea, an endless life of adventure. So I need a new body as well?" I asked, wondering how this was all going to work.

"Yes, your old one has been destroyed beyond use so you'll have to get a new one. Have any ideas?" He asked, still looking at the computer. "I'd recommend one that coincides with your wish."

'So the body I pick dictates where my new life starts.' I thought. I tried to remember all the cool places I could be, and I thought of the perfect one to start my adventure.

"Commander Ripper of the Marines." I said. Hans finally looked up from his computer, surprised.

"Commander Ripper? You want to start your new life in One Piece?" He asked. I simply nodded my head in agreement. Hans smiled.

"I like you." He started, still grinning. "So I'll make you a deal. I will make things so that you get some very useful items, but you have to give something up in return."

"Like what?" I asked warily, he was being awfully nice to a stranger he just met.

"It would have to be something important, like your thumb or legs. Equivalent exchange and all that you see." He said, leaning forward into his hands. "Also, the items you receive would be a surprise, but you'll tell that their for you right away. So what do you say? All you have to do is fill out this form." He pushed a paper to me and I started looking it over. It went over the specifics of my wish and his offer. It all seemed well and good, so I started thinking of what to give up as I reached for a pen.

"Oh no, you'll need to sign with this." Hans said, holding out a quill and syringe. I about lost my shit.

"Why do we need that." I stammered out, quickly jumping away from his outstretched hands. He looked down confused.

"Do you mean this?" He asked, indicating the syringe. I nodded. "Well what to you suggest we use, a letter opener?"

"Do you have one?" I asked, hoping for all I was worth that he did. He blinked, and pulled one from out of his pocket. He stuffed the syringe into a drawer and laid the quill on the table. He reached for my hand, and cut across the back of it drawing blood. I flinched, and drew the conclusion that I had to use my blood as ink. I dipped the quill into the cut, and filled out the form. Hans took it, looked it over, and smirked.

"From what I've seen, it's probably too late to give up your sanity." He said. "But in any-case, it should cover the cost. Good luck." I blinked, and suddenly there was a chubby kid with pink hair in front of me.


	2. Chapter 2

It looked like the kid was trying to explain something, but I didn't really care at the time. To his left at a table behind him where two guys that looked a little young to be drinking. The older one looked about 19, and had short green hair. He was holding three swords, and the name 'Zoro' popped into my head as I looked him over. Siting next to him was a kid, about 17, with dark hair and a straw hat that had a red strip around it. 'Luffy' appeared in my head from nowhere, and I started to worry I was loosing it. Something told me to go with them, so I walked over to see if I could join them. As I took the first few steps, everyone in the room got quiet and stared at me wide-eyed. I was confused as to what was so interesting about me walking, so I looked around but couldn't see anything. I walked over to the two at the table and sat down with them.

"Hello." I said with a wave. They just stared at me for a little, then the one with the straw hat smiled an impossibly wide grin.

"That's so cool!" He yelled, fairly loudly too, surprising me. "How did you do that!"

"Do what?" I replied confused, was walking really that amazing? I heard a scream from behind me, so I turned and saw the kid with pink hair pointing at me, pale.

"D-d-dopelganger! Impossible!" He screamed. A tall, tan man next to him looked as confused as I felt. Some people in the place (It seemed to be a restaurant) stood up and reached for anything that could be used as a weapon. I started to get the felling that I wasn't getting out of here without getting hurt in some way, and prepared myself to start running.

"Do you want to join my pirate crew?" The straw hat kid asked out of the blue. The weapons people where going for made me inclined to say yes.

"If it means getting out of here, sure." I said, standing up and edging towards the door. "I'll just meet you at the ship, shall I?" Someone behind me started to say something, but I was already halfway towards the docks. I had a strange feeling as to which boat to get on, so I went with it and hoped for the best. A little while later, the two from inside joined me on the dinghy with large bags of what smelled like food in tow. We set sail to a salute from what looked like some kind of navy, as the island disappeared into the distance.

After some conversing, I had learned that the green haired one was called Roronora Zoro, and that he used a three-sword style of fighting. The other one was Monkey D. Luffy, and he was a rubber man. He told me and Zoro a story about how when he was a kid, a pirate crew led by a man named Shanks made port at his village. They inspired him to become a pirate, and while trying to prove he was strong enough to join their crew he ate the Gum Gum devil fruit. This made him a rubber man, but because he ate a devil fruit the sea makes him weak and he can't swim. We sailed aimlessly for a couple of days before anything happened. Luffy said something about a bird, and the next thing me and Zoro knew he was being carried off.

We rowed after him as fast as we could, and in the process nearly ran over some pirates that had their ship stolen. They explained this as they where rowing after Zoro had 'convinced' them not to hijack us, but in the confusion we lost sight of Luffy. After more rowing, we reached an island the pirates said was under the control of someone called Captain Buggy. I opted to stay and guard the boat while Zoro looked for Luffy, but after a while I got bored and searched the other boat in port for valuables. There wasn't anything of interest besides a very comfy looking bed, so I decided to take a quick nap. That was one of the worst mistakes I ever made.

I had visions of endless bloodshed and gore, among the piles of mutilated corpses where the bodies of Luffy and Zoro, and other people I felt I should recognize but didn't. On top of a mountain of people two women stood, they seem scared out their minds and looked at me like I had betrayed them somehow. They had long wings like angels, but they where bent and broken at odd angles.

"What happened? Who did this?" I asked, for some reason scared of the answer.

"You did..." They answered in unison right before being ripped apart by some unseen force, blood and bits being thrown towards me. I woke up screaming, and saw the orange haired angel in the light of the door.


	3. Chapter 3

She looked scared...no...not scared, mad. Luffy and Zoro were peering into the room behind her before deciding that everything was okay, slipping out of view. I was still having a hard time controlling my breathing when she slowly made her way towards the edge of the bed and sat in a nearby chair. Something seemed off in the air about her, but I couldn't place my finger on it so I ignored the feeling.

"How are you doing." She started, her voice menacing and her eyes covered in a shadow. "Did you have a nice nap?" I started to worry at that point, wondering what I had done to piss her off.

"Not really, but that tends to happen when you have a nightmare about people being slaughtered all around you." I couldn't tell if this mellowed her out, or made her even madder. She stood up and leaned so that she was right inside my face.

"That's funny, I figured slaughtered innocents would make a traitor like you happy." She spat in my face, quite literally. "How could you betray the Marines and join up with pirates!"

This wasn't the first time I had heard of these Marines, but I still didn't know what they were exactly. Apparently they are supposed to uphold the law from what Luffy and Zoro had told me, but they didn't know much besides that. We had reached this topic because apparently, when I had first met them I had just up and walked out of someone. Luffy said that it looked like one of the Marines walked out of himself and just started talking. I still don't quite believe them, but I guess it would explain why I'm wearing a Marine uniform, and not...Oh God. It was then that I realized that I couldn't remember anything before meeting Luffy and Zoro. I must have shown how scared I was with what the orange haired girl said next.

"What, is your conscience getting through to you? The next time we see Marines, your turning yourself in. I'll sail with pirates, but not traitors." She stood upright and tried to look intimidating, which she might of accomplished if I wasn't scouring my brain for any memory before meeting Zoro and Luffy. That's when it hit me and I ran to the deck, completely ignoring the girl.

"Luffy!" I shouted getting his attention. For whatever reason he was on another boat, the one we left the island on I think. "Have we ever meet before a couple of days ago?".

He seemed to think about it for a bit before shaking his head.

"No, I don't think so. Have you ever been to Foosha Village?" He asked.

"No, I don't think so...maybe I've met someone from there." I replied. "Did you know anyone there really well.?"

"Yea, lot of people. Do you know Makino? Or maybe..." I stopped listening after Makino. As soon as I heard her name, things seemed to click into place. Memories of Luffy's past came flooding into my mind, and it didn't feel very good either. I interrupted whatever Luffy was saying with a pained scream, my head felt like it was trying to explode and implode at the same time. Everyone jumped and rushed over to see what was wrong. Even Nami. 'Wait, who?' I thought, then another round of blinding pain occurred as more memories poured in. I screamed louder than when Zoro found out Kuina died, and was confused by that thought right before another wave of history washed over my mind. I let out a third and final scream before passing out.

When I awoke, I was laying on the bed again. There was a distinct coppery taste in my mouth from coughing blood in my sleep. I had vague memories of a nightmare about killing Nami, Luffy and Zoro but I was too tired to recall it at the time. I sat up and looked around for anyone, but no one was there. I got up and walked to the deck to see a strange new ship along with a large group of pirates. We appeared to be on a new island, and I wondered how long I had been unconscious if we had made it to a new place. Luffy and some tall guy with long claws that looked like katanas were fighting, I was pretty entertaining as well. The tall guy started waving like he was in a trance, then the next thing I know he disappeared and random people in the crowd were being shredded. Luffy must have seen him somehow though, because almost as soon as it started it was over when Luffy wrapped himself around the claw-man. With a headbutt claw-man was sent flying into what I assumed was his crew. Luffy yelled something I couldn't quite understand, then the crew sailed of as fast as they could. I jumped from the ship and walked along the shore to meet up with Luffy who was talking to Nami. Nami...how did I know her name, or any of the stuff I had just learned? I planned to ask them all if the visions I had were true, when Zoro walked over and sat down followed by a skinny kid in brown overalls.

"Everything that happened here today helped me, I've just come to a very difficult decision." Was what I heard him say before he turned around and walked away. I reached Zoro, Luffy and Nami and got their attention. Zoro and Nami looked surprised to see me walking about, and Luffy just looked happy to see me up.

"Kendrick, your alive!" He exclaimed, hugging me.

"What? Did you expect years of memories being forced into my brain to do me in?" I asked sarcastically, hoping that I was made of stronger stuff than that. Luffy just looked at me confused before Nami stepped in.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked confused

"Oh nothing Nami, I'll explain more once we set out to sea." Nami stared at me, shocked. I guess that meant that it was in fact her name. Luffy and Zoro also looked surprised, but not nearly as so.

"So, is there any place to eat on this island?" I asked, realizing that I haven't eaten for a couple of days. Luffy instantly perked up and started dragging me to the center of the island. Nami and Zoro had to run to keep up with how fast Luffy was going. Eventually we had made it to a kind of pub, and me and Luffy where scoffing down food as fast as we could. Me because it was the first I've eaten in what was probably days, and Luffy because...he's Luffy I guess. Nami and Zoro were trying the enjoy themselves, but were throwing curious glances at me the entire time, which I supposed were justified. Eventually a girl with long blood hair walked in and came over to our table. She greeted the others and thanked them for saving their island or something, I wasn't sure since I was still stuffing my face.

"It's good to see you up and active Kendrick." She said to me, which finally got my attention. "You friends were worried about you. I had asked Klahadore to send someone to take care of you, but I'm guessing that he didn't after all. Still, it's nice to know your well." I thanked her and asked why this Klahadore hadn't sent anyone. The girl tensed a little, and Nami steeped in to answer for her.

"Klahadore turned out to be Captain Kuro, and was pretending to be Kaya's caretaker for the last three years so he could steal her estate and money." She explained. "But Usopp and Luffy figured out his plans, so we stopped him."

"So this Kuro was the guy I saw Luffy headbutt earlier?" I confirmed. Luffy nodded his head and grinned. "Well then, good job Luffy." The girl, Kaya I assumed, smiled and said that se had a gift for us. So we paid up and walked down to the docks. Where our two boats had been and brand new ship was. It looked pretty impressive, and some goat-man explained all the features saying it was called the 'Going Merry'. As we were preparing to set off, a giant green ball appeared and was rolling fast towards our new ship. Someone yelled to stop it, and Zoro and Luffy did just that. By slamming their foot into who was wearing the ball, which turned out to just be a overtaxed backpack. It was the same guy from before, and he started saying goodbye to Kaya and the others when Luffy invited him to join us. I guessed that he was Usopp, and as we were boarding I had another flash of history as Kaya and Usopp clicked together in my mind. This one wasn't nearly as bad as the others, but still caused be a headache. I added Usopp to the list of people I'd have to sort out all this information with. We set sail, and after waving goodbye to Kaya and goat-man Nami turned to me and stared me down. As much as she could considering how much taller I was than her anyways.

"OK Kendrick, start explaining what you meant earlier by 'years of memories being forced into my brain'." She demanded, glaring at me. Zoro, Luffy and Usopp also looked at me, interested to hear the story as well I assumed.

"OK, but let's go to the kitchen, you're going to need to sit down probably." I said, walking to the upper deck. We all sat in the kitchen, and I started.

"Back at the Marine base where I had first met Luffy and Zoro, I knew their names before they even told me them, but I had shrugged it off as a coincidence, but when I saw Nami it happened again. As you three know," I said, indicating to Nami, Luffy and Zoro. "I asked Luffy if we had ever met before, which lead us to Makino. When she was mentioned, thing sort of...clicked in my mind, and visions of what appeared to be Luffy's past flooded my brain. This started a chain reaction the lead to more visions of what looked to be Nami and Zoro's past as well. I even had visions of Usopp's past as we got ready to set sail." At this point Usopp's eyes got wide. "I don't know what this means. But I would like to go over what I saw with everyone, if that would be okay?" I asked, and slowly everyone nodded their heads. I asked everyone besides Luffy to leave so we could get started, and went over what I saw with him. Everything seemed to be exact, from Ace and Sabo to Shanks and the mountain bandit. I felt bad for Luffy, and asked him to send in Zoro next. Everything I saw about his training and Kuina was correct as well, and he glared at me as he wen't to get Usopp. He probably didn't believe me about where I had gotten this information, and I didn't blame him. I didn't believe it either. Usopp confirmed what I saw and went to get Nami. There's been a lot of death in their past, from Sabo and Kuina to Usopp's mother and Bell-mère. Speaking of which...

"I'm sorry about Bell-mère Nami." I said as she sat down. Nami tensed up for a second before glaring at me.

"So...now that you know all about my plans, I suppose you'll want something in return for not telling the others." She asked, still glaring.

"No," I said, and she instantly switched from glaring to surprised "for two reasons. One; I don't know your plans other than creating a map of the world and buying your village. Two; even if I did know them, I wouldn't tell anybody unless you wanted me to or it jeopardizes the safety of our crew." Nami said nothing for a bit and just stared at me. She mumbled a small 'thanks', then went to get everybody outside. As they sat back down, I prepared another explanation in my head.

"Now that I know so much about you." I started. "You probably want to know something about me, but I'm sorry to say that I don't remember anything past meeting Zoro and Luffy." It didn't seem like anyone believed me.

"So you expect us to believe that the one person that knows all of our pasts, doesn't know his own?" Zoro demanded.

"I don't expect you to believe anything, I'm in the dark as much as you all are." I replied, unfazed by his lack of trust. I don't trust myself either. "All I have to go on is that I knew all of your names and past somehow, and that I 'walked out of myself ' as Luffy put it." They looked at me for a while, then they all seemed to make some sign that they understood. I had a feeling Zoro and Nami still didn't trust me though. After that, we sailed on for a couple of days. In that time I had convinced Nami and Usopp to help me change the uniform. I had long ago gotten rid of the handkerchief, and I had them replace the word 'MARINE' with 'PIRATE' as well as replace the Marine logo with a Jolly Rodger wearing a straw hat. Our pirate flag. After some sailing, we eventually came upon a small boat in the middle of the sea.


	4. Chapter 4

Luffy and Usopp were playing with the cannon earlier, so I was worried that they had pissed off another pirate crew when some guy jumped on the deck and started shouting threats. I got a good look at him and realized it was Zoro's old partner Johnny, I wondered if Zoro realized he was here.

"Luffy, don't hurt him to much." I said, Johnny cut the Mary so Luffy slammed him into the deck. "He's a friend of Zoro's." The aforementioned swordsman walked to the deck from wherever he was napping.

"Johnny, is that you? Where's Yosaku?" Zoro asked.

"Big-Bro Zoro! Yosaku is in trouble, big trouble." He replied.

It turned out that Yosaku was sick, so Johnny took him to rest on an island when it was hit by our cannon. Nami said that Yosaku had scurvy, so we gave him some limes to get better. We decided that the next position to be filled was a chef, and in thanks for saving them Johnny and Yosaku told us about a floating restaurant called the Baratie where 'the cooks fight back'. Whatever that ment.

We found the restaurant, but some pink-haired Marine fired at us and Luffy sent the cannonball into the Baratie so we waited for him to deal with it. We got tired of waiting for him, so we walked in to see the pink-haired Marine beaten and being held in the air by a blond guy in a black suit. Pinky was thrown to the floor, and some chefs held Blondie back from beating him some more. As they were restraining him, Luffy and some guy with a huge braided mustache came crashing through the ceiling.

'Oh look, another thing were going to have to pay for.' I thought.

Luffy and Mustachio started arguing about something, then Mustatio yelled at Blondie, and finally kicked Pinky towards the door. It was then that another Marine came through the doorway saying something about an escaped prisoner before getting shot in the back. A man who looked to be starving walked over to an empty table, gun still smoking in his hand, and demanded food. A creepy looking guy with a shaved head walked over and asked how he was going to pay, and gun-man pointed his pistol to his head and asked if a bullet could cover the cost. In a flash creepy slammed Starving into the floor, beat on him a bit, and threw him out the door while everyone cheered. I thought that it was a little extreme to beat on a starving man, but it wasn't my restaurant. The chefs went back to the kitchen and Blondie lingered for a bit before following them, returning quickly with a plate of food. We all sat at a table and a little while later, Blondie came to give us menus and take our orders. He introduced himself as Sanji as he fawned over Nami and did a wierd noodle dance as she ordered her food, then turned to us and acted a lot less caring. While we waited for our food, Luffy joined us and declared that Sanji would be our new chef.

I wasn't that surprised, the meal was probably the best thing I had ever eaten, probably. Eventually I went back to the ship to take a nap, which was another huge mistake. At the rate it was going I wasn't going to sleep anymore. I was back at the battlefield and it was the same as I last saw it, only this time I could recognize Nami, Usopp and Sanji among the bodies. Nami and the black-haired angel were still standing their, but this time they didn't explode all over me. I didn't say anything, I was too scared to incase they were torn apart again.

All of a sudden a figure rose behind them, it was impossibly tall and thin wearing a black suit and tie. It had perfectly white skin and no face of any kind along with numerous black tentacles. As I gazed on it visage I felt nothing but fear. Fear of it, fear for the angels, and fear for myself. The creature didn't move at all, but in an instant its tentacles rushed forward and tore Nami and the other angel apart. I couldn't move, too scared even as the appendages came at me next. Then I screamed.

I woke up screaming, and heard a startled yelp from the deck before Nami rushed into the men's quarters were I was.

"Kendrick, what are you doing here?" She demanded, seemingly surprised to see me.

"I was trying to take a nap, but had another nightmare." I said, then realizing we were moving. "Where are we off to now Nami, did Luffy finally convince Sanji to join us."

I wouldn't be that surprised if he had, Luffy had a way of convincing people that seemed to work. I got up and walked out to the deck, but I didn't see Sanji, or anyone else for that matter, on the ship. I heard someone walk up behind me, so I turned to see if it was one of the guys only to get hit in the face by Nami's staff. It hurt. A lot.

"OW, Nami! The hell!" I exclaimed, grabbing her staff and ripping it out of her seemed surprised about something, but I was more focused on nursing my jaw and making sure she didn't break anything. "What you hit me for?"

She looked disappointed, then turned around and crossed her arms.

"Why shouldn't I hit a stupid traitor to the Marines, it's the least you deserve probably. Along with all the other idiots in your crew." She said almost growling. I sighed and wiped my face with my hand, realizing what was happening.

"You know you could have just told them about Arlong, then you wouldn't have to do this." I said, making Nami stiff up for a second before recovering her grumpy air. "Now Luffy is going to have to chase us down and Arlong will be in charge that much longer."

"And what could that meat-eating moron do to change what Arlong is doing?". Nami huffed out, still not looking at me. I walked up and turned her around, looking into her eyes.

"He'll beat him." I assured sounding as confident as I could. Nami still didn't look sure.

"And if he doesn't?" She asked.

"Then we all die trying." I answered, which she didn't seem to like.

"That's exactly what I don't want to happen!" She yelled at me, pushing me away. "Why would you all do that for someone you barely know!"

"For the same reason you are worried about us; whether it be an hour or a year, friends are friends." I replied, pulling her into a hug. "And no matter what happens Nami, we are friends."

I felt her shake a bit, then she pulled back and rubbed her now puffy eyes.

"Thank you Kendrick, I needed that." She said smiling. "But no sacrifice will be necessary; I finally have enough to buy the village. No one needs to be hurt... even if they deserve it."

Nami muttered the last part quietly, but I still heard her. She seemed convinced that Arlong would honor their deal, however I still thought he'd find a way to worm his way out of it.

"Ok Nami, I'm going to try to get some sleep. Wake me if you need anything." I said, she nodded so I walked back into the men's quarters to try sleeping again, something that has eluded me since the start of our journey.

As soon as I feel asleep, I was in a dark forest. I wondered for a bit before I came upon the Merry, torn to pieces and covered in blood. Worried, I climbed on the deck to everyone strewn across it in pieces. I didn't get a very good look before something grabbed me from behind and threw me into the ground. It was the tall man again, I knew I should run but I was too scared to move. The appendages coming from his back were constantly changing from stiff and branch-like to tentacles. All of a sudden they shot forward and wrapped around me, lifting me into he air. All I felt was pain as they crushed me in a vice-like grip, then they loosened a bit and started tearing chunks from me. After what felt like hours of this torture I finally started passing out.

I awoke and walked out to the deck, feeling better now that I was away from the creature. It looked like we were docked back in Nami's home village, then I was suddenly hit with how hungry I was. I had no idea how long it had been since I last ate, and the feeling was getting worse and worse. Quickly all I knew was the hunger, so I started wondering and looking for something to eat. I passed numerous buildings before I came across Nami kneeling in the middle if the street, crying and bleeding. The very sight made me enraged at the injustice of it, no one deserved what's happened to her. I walked up to her and she looked up, seemingly surprised to see me.

"K-Kendrick! What hap-." She started.

"Who." Was all I said, but see seemed to understand what I meant.

"Arlong, Luff-."

"Where."

She just pointed ahead, so I picked her up so she could show me the way.

"What are yo-."

"Point."

She gave me a look like she was upset about something, but I ignored it. I would deal with it after Arlong was dead.

We walked until we were at the gates, and I set Nami down in the crowd that was their so she would be safe. The two bounty hunters were there, but I didn't pay attention to them and started winding the chain I had picked up around by arm to get a good grip on it. I spun the end, making it go faster and faster as I zeroed in on my target. Arlong.

Luffy was facing Arlong, yelling about something. I didn't care to pay attention, all that mattered was that Arlong needed to die. I ran forward and the hunger came back, I threw the chain so it would wrap around the fishman's neck. He looked surprised at my sudden intrusion and before he could react I had pulled him over to me. As he was dragged he regained composure and pulled back, I flew towards him and he raised his hand to hit me but I twisted out-of-the-way and latched on his arm.

Without thinking I sunk my teeth into his arm and tore off a big chunk of flesh. Arlong screamed and threw me off him only to hit by Luffy. It went like that for a few minutes, me and Luffy going at him with my chain and his rubber powers, until Arlong ripped his sword out of his tower and swung it at us. I was a little to slow to react and his sword nicked be across the stomach, splitting it open. I heard someone scream, but I didn't know who until I realized it was me.

It hurt almost as bad as the nightmare, and my insides started falling out of the wound. I kneeled there trying not to move to much, but the hunger drove me to crawl over to one of the dead fishmen and start eating his corpse. As I consumed the cadaver, I started to feel better and my feeding grew more and more ravenous until all that was left was the bones and a few organs. I stood back up to find my wound had healed, however I was more focused on Arlong who seemed to have a myriad of emotions running rampant, the major being anger.

Arlong gave out a war-cry and swung his sword at me again, but I was prepared for it this time and did a better job of dodging. Luffy and me went at him again, but now that I was a little more balanced I could tell that I was severely outclassed by both Luffy and Arlong. It seemed that I was getting in the way more than I was helping, so I opted out of the fight.

"It's clear I'm of no more use here captain, so I leave the rest to you. Make him suffer." I told Luffy before falling back towards Nami and the others.

It was clear that the villagers that had gathered were unsure they wanted to be so close to me. Even Nami looked a little apprehensive as I got closer to her.

"I'm sorry about earlier, are you ok Nami?" I asked, inspecting her now bandaged shoulder.

"I'm fine now, and I'll be even better when Arlong is beaten." She replied with a small smile on her lips. I smiled back.

"Let's watch the show then." I said, turning back to the battle.

Luffy and Arlong were inside the tower at this point, tearing up the map room Nami had been forced to use. Suddenly Luffy smashed Arlong threw his own tower, causing it to collapse around him. The villagers and Nami gasped at the sight, then Luffy stood from the top of the rubble.

"NAMI, YOU ARE ONE OF US!" Luffy shouted.

Nami gasped and looked like she was about to cry. Now that all the threats were eliminated, my adrenalin wore off and I quickly realized that my everything hurt Immensely. I crumpled to the ground and quickly blacked out.

When I awoke I was laying in a bed I didn't recognize. I got up and walked out of the building to see that everyone was having a party, no doubt to celebrate the Arlong pirates defeat. I decide that it was the perfect time to visit Nami's house, something I had wanted to do since getting here. It wasn't to far away so I got there in a couple of minutes. No one was inside so I looked around, it was a nice house considering everything that had happened. I was about to leave, but I saw something that surprised me to no end. Bell-mère. She was sitting at their dining table, looking at me. I didn't know what to do, so I just stared back wracking my brain for something to say.

"...Hi." Was what I came up with. Real great job brain.

Bell-mère didn't say anything, just pulled an amused sort of smirk.

"So your one of Nami's new friends? Thank you for helping her." A voice said. It sounded like Bell-mère, but her lips didn't move.

"Yea, my name is Kendrick. But if your really Bell-mère, then how am I talking to you? Your dead." I asked, confused.

"You'll find out soon enough, I don't want to ruin the surprise. I'm just here to ask a favor." The voice, Bell-mère, said.

"Sure, anything." I said, wondering what I could for a dead woman.

"Watch out for Nami. She's a tough girl, but she still need friends. Just friends." Her eyes narrowed and smirk disappeared at that last part, cementing any implications it had.

"I won't deprive her of the lessons hard knocks can give and I won't be able to protect her from her feelings either, those are the kinds of things that define us." I started. "All I'll be able to do is keep her out of any real danger. People need to grow, if life was easy it would be pointless"

Bell-mère didn't seem to happy about what I said, but then she sighed and put on a small, sad smile.

"I suppose your right, she's not a child anymore. Thank you, for at least making sure she doesn't get to roughed up." She sighed, and disappeared.

I looked around again to make sure she wasn't still here somewhere, then I took my leave.

I joined back up with the party, and saw Nami and Nojiko talking to each other. I walked over and Nami looked surprised to see me.

"Kendrick, your awake! Should you be up walking around?" She asked sounding worried.

"Probably not, but I am. How are you two doing?" I replied. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, but I wanted to make sure.

"We're doing good, Luffy and the others have enjoyed the party." Nami said.

"How long was I out?" I asked, I wasn't feeling hungry so it couldn't have been too long.

"For two days."

Oh...never mind then.

"Two days! I'm guessing you guys fed me while I was out then, I sure don't feel like I haven't eaten or drunken for that long." I stated, starting to worry about my sleeping habits.

Nami blushed a bit and scratched the back of her head while Nojiko smirked.

"Oh, come on! You guys just left me there without food? what did I do to deserve that?" I asked, the fact I hadn't starved amazing me.

"I'm sure they just didn't now what to feed you, fishmen or steak." Nojiko said, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Either would work, but if it was fishman then hopefully a fresher specimen than what I had. It didn't taste very good." I said nonchalantly, as if people feast on corpses everyday. I was hoping my attitude would calm the situation.

"What! You like eating people!"

Or not. I sighed, thinking about how I was going to say this.

"I don't know, it certainly didn't taste good but...I don't know. It might have something to do with my amnesia, but I have no idea why I ate...whoever I ate. All I know is that it saved my life." I explained as best I could.

Nojiko and Nami didn't seem to be convinced, but they dropped it. I walked around to find the others and get caught up on what happened and nobody brought up my apparent cannibalism, even if they did give me strange looks. As fun as the party was however, it quickly became time to go and continue our adventure. We were all set to sail, when Nami ran through the crowd of villagers waving goodby and jumped on the deck without even a word. Then she dropped everyone's wallets out of her shirt. A real Nami goodby. Our next stop was still unknown, but wherever it was sure to be a great adventure.


	5. Chapter 5

And I was right. The next island before we made it to the grand line was Loguetown, the town of the beginning and the end. It was where the last King of the Pirates, Gold Rodger, was born and executed. Luffy was excited to see the execution platform, and I was interested as well. As we made port I caught the glimpse of someone out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned no one was there. At the entrance of Loguetown Luffy ran off to find the execution platform and I followed him. On the way there I heard a yelp, and saw a girl be pulled into an alley out of the corner of my eye.

'Not on my watch' I thought, doubling back to run into the alley after her.

I saw an unkempt looking man carrying the girl over his shoulder as he walked further into the alley.

"You there! Put the girl down!" I yelled to him, breaking into a run.

The man's eyes widened and he started running. I chased him through the alley and all over the city. I started smelling the ocean, so I figured he was trying to get to a ship. He was probably part of a pirate crew that was looking for a little 'feminine company'.

'Fuck that' I said to myself and sped up my pace.

The chase led me to a pirate ship (as I thought it would) that had a fairly large crew. The man with the girl shouted something to what appeared to be their captain and ran below deck

"Get 'im lads!" The captain yelled and followed the man.

I was quickly surrounded by fairly strong-looking pirated that were armed to the teeth. The only viable weapon I had was a knife stuck into the railing behind me. I grabbed it and charged the nearest body, my sudden movements surprising him. I turned the blade in by hand and drove it down through his skull, then I spun and cut the throat of someone who had tried to hit be from behind. The rest of them started piling towards me. I fought them off as best I could, but I had no training of any kind (that I could remember) and was using a fairly small dagger. My opponents, on the other hand, had cutlasses and clearly knew how to use them. As quickly as I had started it they ended it when one of them drove their sword through my chest while another lopped of my head. The world turned dark and I was suddenly alone in nothingness. I don't know how long I was floating there, but in the distance I saw a person getting closer. Eventually he was in front of me, a disfigured man wearing a hat and red and gold sweater.

"Who are you? What are you? Why won't you die!" He demanded loudly.

"Do I know you?" I asked, whoever he was he seemed vaguely familiar.

"Not consciously you don't, but its enough for me to be." The strange man said. "But your the only one in this entire world that does, and I can't even kill you to spread my name."

"Why are you trying to kill me? What did I ever do to you? And where the hell are we?!" I demanded, wondering who I pissed to deserve all this.

"I am Freddy, and what you have done is fail! You have failed to die and failed to spread the fear of my name!" Freddy screamed at me, cutting me with a bladed glove. "You have only repressed memories, nothing I could use to make you my own. I use your fears to torture your mind, but you persevere. Every time you sleep I kill you, but you awake in defiance of my work. You are useless to me, but the only one I can use."

I didn't know what it say, so I said nothing and just stared at him. Apparently this just made him mad as he started slashing at me. I tried fighting back but it was clear that he outmatched me greatly. I eventually got to tired to move and collapsed, I didn't even have the energy to scream as he kept at me. Eventually he stopped and just stared at me for a long time, then smirked.

"You seem complacent enough." Freddy said, lifting his glove to my head.

I was confused as to what he was talking about, then he started forcing the end of the blades into my head. It hurt so bad that I finally passed out from the pain.

When I regained consciousness I was back on the Merry, caught in a deadlock with Zoro. I jerked back to get away from him and he stood his ground staring at me. I looked around and saw that Luffy, Sanji, even Usopp and some people I didn't recognize were staring me down, ready to fight.

"Uh...what's going on?" I asked, confused as to how I got here. "And who are those guys?"

As I lifted my hand to point at the strangers, I noticed my hand seemed a little heavier than usual. I also couldn't help but notice that Freddy's gloves were on my hands. I just stared at my hand for a bit, then looked up to everyone that was staring at me.

"Why are these on my hands, What happened?" I asked again.

Before anyone could say anything though, an extreme pain spread from my hand to my head. It felt as if someone had set me on fire, and I was soon back in the void with Freddy. He seemed pissed, and a little worried as well. Without a word he launched himself at me again, but this time I cold fight back. We brawled for a couple of minutes, with him having the obvious upper hand, before I got lucky.

He sliced at me and when I tried to doge it I slipped to the ground. He dove after me and I rolled out if the way at the last moment, rolling back over him before he could recover. I grabbed his head and slammed it into whatever constituted as the ground in the seemingly endless void. I leaned my head down and tore a chunk out of his neck in desperation, then he finally threw me off himself and shakily stood.

I swallowed what I had bit off and the hunger returned full force. I dove and tackled him to the ground, tearing of chunks and shoving them into my mouth. Freddy stopped moving after a few moments, so I stood up. A door I hadn't seen before opened up to the deck of the Merry.

Everyone looked at me with varying reactions, most being confusion and fear.

"...What the hell just happened".


	6. Chapter 6

Everyone gathered around the dinning table, staring at me. The two that I didn't know were standing over by the door trying not to look interested in what's going on.

"I guess I'll start, where are we?" I asked, wanting to get the easy things out-of-the-way first.

"We're in the Grand Line, on our way to an island called Whiskey Peak." Nami answered slowly. "Don't you remember?"

"No, I don't remember much past trying to save that girl from the pirates." I said, then I realized I didn't know what became of her.. "The girl! Did she escape?"

"What girl? What did you do you shitty... whatever you are!" Sanji demanded.

"What do you mean what girl! She was on the ship, the reason I was even there." I said, slamming my fist on the table.

Zoro seemed to perk up when I said this.

"Ship? There was no ship when I found you." He said.

I was confused, I was sure there had been a ship. I had tried. To save the girl and ended up with...my head cut off. My eyes widened and my hand shot up to feel my neck, finding a distinct scar running around it.

"There was a ship, I was chasing after the guy that took the girl and he led me to it." I stared to explain. "But when I tried to save her the crew...cut off my head."

Everyone's eyes got wide, except for Zoro who narrowed his.

"Impossible, it's clearly still attached." He said.

"Maybe, but I sure don't remember having this scar." I said, pulling back the collar of my shirt so they could see it better.

I heard someone gasp, but I couldn't tell who. They leaned closer to get a better look, then Zoro said something that made my blood go cold.

"I think I remember seeing a ship in the distance, it could have been the one you were injured on." He said.

I sagged into the my chair, not knowing what to say. Doubt flooded my mind; Luffy, Zoro or Sanji could have easily taken out some pirates and saved the girl, but I failed and who knows what became of her. If I couldn't save one girl, how was I supposed to keep Nami and the others safe? I didn't have an answer.

"What happened after you found me?" I finally asked.

"I tried waking you up, thinking you were asleep." Zoro said. I had an urge to roll my eyes, only Zoro would think it was normal to fall asleep on some docks. "And you got up and followed me back to the ship. You were being really quiet though, and had a creepy smile on your face. On our way back you disappeared on me and I couldn't find you again."

"You must have found me and Usopp right after that, you followed us around, still not talking and having the creepy smile. Every once in a while you'd disappear for a bit but then be back quickly." Nami continued. "When the storm came you stayed with me on the ship and helped get it out to sea. When Luffy stretched to reach the ship, you seemed surprised but I didn't think much of it at the time."

"We headed to Reverse Mountain after that, and after we met Laboon the whale and his doctor you took some of my supplies and made those gloves." Usopp explained indicating the gloves I had taken off and placed at the center of the table. They have me an uneasy feeling, so I tried to keep away from them.

"I was cooking in the kitchen when you walked in." Sanji started. "I tried talking to you but all you did was stared at me and smile. After a while you finally asked me 'what I was afraid of', so I asked you why you wanted to know. Then you said 'I just wanted to make sure it was me' and attacked."

"Then I walked in and saw you attacking Sanji, so I tried to grab you and figure out what was going on, but you where too fast and cut me." Luffy said, having been surprisingly quiet throughout the whole thing. "Then you said something about Makino that made me mad, so I started fighting back. You were to fast though, neither Sanji or me could hit you. Somehow we ended up on the deck and Zoro joined in, then you stopped fighting all of a sudden."

I was quiet as I processed what they had said.

"I'm not sure of the details, but after I...died I guess, a man jammed Freddy appeared before me and said some stuff that didn't make sense." I started explaining. "Then he attacked me and knocked me out, and when I woke I was fighting Zoro. Soon I was back...somewhere with Freddy again and he attacked me a second time, but I beat him that time. Now I'm here with you."

"So was this Freddy guy controlling you maybe?" Usopp wondered aloud. "He could have had a Devil Fruit power like Luffy."

"I suppose that could have been it, but for some reason it doesn't sound right. I just hope that whatever happened doesn't ever happen again." I said, looking back to the strangers. "So, who are those two?"

"Some people we're giving a ride." Luffy answered, it was good enough for me.

"Ok then, we should probably head back outside and make sure we're still on course." I said, standing up and walking over to the door.

As I opened it, a huge gust of wind rushed in along with...snow? I was confused, why was it snowing?

"Snow!" Nami screamed and ran onto the deck. We hurried out after her to find ourselves caught in the middle of a snowstorm. Nami started yelling orders and we followed as best we could. After a while the storm calmed down, giving us a break. I put on a coat and sat on the edge of the deck, my legs hanging over the side.

I was thinking about what had happened for the last couple of weeks. First I appear out of nowhere without any memories of my past, then I start having visions. Now I'm eating people and being haunted by a jackass. I hold my head in my hands and sigh, nothing made sense anymore. I couldn't even keep my friends safe.

My head shot up at that thought, I couldn't keep them safe. I can't fight at all. Then my thoughts wandered back to what Lucy had said earlier.

'You were to fast though, neither Sanji or me could hit you.'

I stood up and walked back to the kitchen, Sanji was inside preparing dinner. He looked over his shoulder to see who came in, and his eyes widened slightly when he saw me.

"It's ok, it's me." I said, walking over to the table.

Sanji turned away, but I could tell he was still sneaking glances at me. I stared at the gloves for a bit, I was afraid to touch them. They gave me an uneasy feeling, like the gloves themselves wanted to kill everything they could, but they also seemed familiar somehow. I hesitantly reached down and touched one, picking it up when nothing seemed to happen. I looked the gloves over, they were clearly hand-made but I'm not sure how. I didn't remember Usopp having blades of any kind, or this much leather. As I inspected them, I remembered something Sanji ha said earlier.

"Hey Sanji." I started, getting his full attention. "After the storm, didn't you say something about knives?"

"Yea, a few of them are missing. Why?" He replied.

"I think I found them." I said, holding up a glove for him to see.

He squinted his eyes and came closer, then scowled.

"That's them all right, what a waste." Was all he said before turning back to his cooking.

I went to find Zoro, the only one of us who knew anything about fighting with bladed weapons, to ask what he thought about their battle potential.

I found him working out (with no shirt I may add), and asked what he thought about him. He didn't say anything for a while, so I thought he hadn't heard me. He finally spoke up right before I was going to ask again.

"Back on Ussop's island that Kuro guy used weapons a lot like those, but his were bigger. They seemed pretty effective when used properly, and could allow for some interesting tactics." He started, and I sat down next to him. "But since the blades on these are smaller, it would require you to get closer to the enemy. When we were fighting, I had gotten lucky and made you block a few times. They seemed to hold up, which surprised me because they don't seem very...durable I suppose. You couldn't keep it up, however, and had to slip away quickly every time."

He paused for a moment, seemingly to gather his thoughts, then reached over and grabbed one of his swords. It looked like a new one and had a red sheath.

"When I got this sword, I could feel something off about it." He continued. "It had a powerful blood lust, which made sense after I learned it was cursed. Those...gloves give me a similar feeling, but its worse somehow. This sword kills because it's in it's nature, those gloves because they want to. If you want to use them as weapons go ahead, I won't stop you, but you must stay in control of them if you do. You'll need to be fast to use them properly, so keep that in mind as you decide what to do. The most important thing to remember is that you're using the weapon, don't let it use you. Friends shouldn't fight like we did."

It was quiet for a moment as I digested all that information.

"Thanks Zoro." I said, smiling.

I stood up, and went to see what Luffy and Usopp were up to.

Eventually we made it to Whiskey Peak. Me and Zoro had sparred a little on the way their as I had decided to use the gloves after all. I needed to work on my speed and technique, but they would do for now. Our sparring also helped me understand what Zoro meant when he said I needed to stay in control, as we went at it I noticed that every once in a while I'd have an urge to actually kill him. Whenever that happened I'd slow to give myself a chance to calm down. I didn't know if Zoro noticed or not, but he didn't say anything if he did.

The town on the island welcomed us like we were heroes, which was strange considering we were pirates. Some guy with weird-looking hair guided us through the town and invited us to a party or something, I wasn't paying much attention. Something about the town didn't feel right, like they were all hiding something. Igirapopo ,or whatever his name was, seemed the worst out of all of them, but for whatever reason I didn't worry about him. I kept an eye on everyone else though.

Eventually we had been coerced to stay a while and party, with constant offerings of booze being the standard of conversation. I didn't drink much past a few sips as I didn't care for the taste of it, only drinking what I did to appease their insistence. Eventually I grew tired of their pestering and left the group, taking a walk around the town. I wondered for a bit before noticing that I was being followed, I turned to see who it was and barley dodged the club they had swung at me.

I backed up to get some distance and they rushed forward to take another swing. This time I intercepted their wild strike and used their momentum to flip them over my shoulder into he ground. It turned out my attacker was one of the people who greeted us at the docks, but I didn't have time to think about it as more people suddenly appear and attack. I fight them off as best I could while I put my gloves on, but one got knocked out of my hand and I had to dodge out-of-the-way of an attack. I tried to find it, but the attackers were pressing down on me, not allowing for much searching.

Eventually their numbers grew ridiculous, it was as if the entire town was after me. I fought through the crowd and ran for it, trying to put as much distance between us as I could. When I was sure they couldn't see me anymore I ducked into an alley and waited for them to pass, hurrying back to where I had lost my glove.

I found it under one of the attackers and went to where I had left Luffy and the others. On the way I saw Zoro being chased by some people so I changed course to intercept them. I caught up and had to climb a building to run next to Zoro.

"What did you guys do when I left, kill their mayor or something?" I asked, still confused about why they are trying to kill us.

"I turns out this entire island is under the control of Baroque Works, who are after our bounties." Was his reply.

"I guess Nami was right then, you and Luffy are going to get us killed." I thought out loud, causing Zoro to smirk.

"You as well, their hunting your bounty too." He said, suddenly coming to a stop.

If I wasn't so surprised by what he said, I probably would have dodged the sword swung at me. But I didn't. My running and the assailants swing in conjunction caused his sword to cut clean through my head, just under my eyes. What happened after that I learned from Zoro and Nami later.

Apparently instead of falling, my body slid onto all fours like an animal. I jumped back at the guy who 'killed me' and just stared laying into him. By the time I was done he wasn't much more than a garbled mess of bloody chunks. Zoro said he was worried I'd go after him next, but when I got close I just...smelt him. Apparently I ignored him after that and started to attack the crowd of people who followed us. Me and Zoro worked together to defeat them, then he said that I suddenly ran off and left him there.

Nami told me that she was stealing from the town when I suddenly appeared. Initially she freaked out at seeing me with most of my head gone, but calmed down when she realized I would do whatever she told me too. That part weirded me out a bit, but ok. We stole a bunch of things and ran back to the ship to drop it off, but on the way we were attacked.

Nami said that on the way to the ship, I kept getting closer to her and 'looking' around, growling softly. Suddenly I leapt into the air and tackled some guy to the ground, the. A whole group of them surrounded us. Nami said she was worried, but when one would get close to her I'd just knock them back into the crowd. She said that I never got to far away from her, only moving to be between her and whoever attacked next. Eventually they surrounded us completely and I picked her up and jumped over the crowd, getting as far away as I could.

Nami said that I hid us in a building, shushing her when she tried to talk. She could hear them getting closer and closer, but instead of getting away I just hushed her more and put my hand over her eyes. Whenever she'd open them back up I would growl a bit and cover them again, eventually she understood that I wanted her to keep them closed. She didn't know what happened after that beyond the sounds of fighting and other, less savory ones.

After a couple of minutes I picked her up and started running, so she opened her eyes a bit. She got a little pale at this point, but all she said was that it was clear I was in a fight. I took us back to her loot and we finally made it to the ship. It was then that she noticed I had carried one of our attackers over my shoulder. I laid the body on the deck and started to eat it, causing her to look away and almost be sick. When we worked up the courage to look back the body was gone and I was standing there, looking confused. As far as I knew, one moment I was running with Zoro, the next I was on the ship with Nami covered in blood and bile.

"Wha...how'd I get here? What the hell am I covered in!" I said, mostly to myself as I had yet to notice Nami.

"That doesn't matter right now, just go take a shower!" She yelled at me, gingerly pushing me towards the bathroom.

Even though I had no idea what was going on I listened to her, doubling back to grab some new cloths. By the time I had collected the water and heated it up Nami was gone, but at the point I was more worried about getting clean. After I was done with my shower, I got dressed and walked onto the deck. There I saw the first person I ever loved.


	7. Chapter 7

Luffy and the others, along with the blue haired stranger, were all looking at her. She was sitting on the edge of the top deck were Nami's trees were, right on the bannister. The blue haired stranger yelled something like 'Ms. All-Sunday!' which I assumed was her name, but for whatever reason that didn't sound right. Her eyes eventually met mine and she smiled, or smirked, causing me to feel something I had never felt before. I walked over next to Luffy so I could hear what was going on.

"However, you have a chance." She said, talking to me. "You don't yet know my leaders identity, and I am authorized to offer a place within Baroque Works."

I was confused, why would to people who tried to kill us offer me a job?

"If I did take your offer, hypothetically, what could I expect?" I asked, causing looks of hurt to flash over my friends faces. I instantly felt bad, couldn't they tell I was joking? Ms. All-Sunday simply smirked again.

"Considering your impressive abilities, you would become one of the numbered agents. You would do jobs for the organization, with the help of an assigned partner, and be well compensated for it." She replied.

I smirked, and started walking up the stair toward her. I heard someone give an angry and hurt cry of 'Kendrick!' But I pressed on until I was right next to her.

"That seems like a pretty cushy line of work." I started, reaching up like I was going to shake her hand.

She raised hers in conjunction, only to be surprised by what happened next. I reached passed her hand and grabbed the purple cowboy hat she was wearing off her head, at the same time turning to fall over backwards to the deck below landing on my feet.

"But it also sounds boring. If I stick with Luffy here." I continued, pulling said rubber-boy into a sideways hug. "Then I'm guaranteed adventure and friends that I wouldn't trade the world for."

Ms. All-Sunday frowned, but I was sure I saw a hint of amusement in her eyes as well.

"Too bad, we could have used someone like you. Now would you kindly return my hat." She asked.

In an instant my blood ran cold, flashes of memories and dreams conquered my mind and for a single moment I understood everything and nothing. In the physical world it manifested as a nosebleed. Without a second thought I walked over to her and returned the hat, to this day I can't remember what I was going to do with it otherwise. A single phrase kept flashing through my mind as I slumped to the ground, 'A man chooses, a slave obeys'.

When I reaffirmed my grasp on the world and stopped hallucinating red-haired twins, I realized we were sailing again. Someone had moved me to the men's quarters, so I walked back into the deck and saw Usopp Luffy and...a duck? I did a double-take to make sure I wasn't still imagining things, Luffy and Usopp were fishing with a duck!

"Kendrick!" I heard someone yell.

I turned to see who it was and barley dodged the staff swinging at me. Nami glared at me, obviously mad about something.

"This again, what I do this time?" I asked, exasperated.

"That was for scaring us like that! What were you thinking?" She screamed right in my face.

I was confused, was I that good of an actor?

"Did you guys honestly think I was going to go with her?" I asked everyone.

They all just sort of shrugged, except for Usopp who loudly proclaimed that he 'knew I was joking the whole time'.

"We don't know anything about you, we had no way of telling what you'd do." Sanji said from the upper deck.

"Every time we think we know you, something new comes along and shatters our perception. What happened with Ms. All-Sunday certainly didn't help." Usopp finished.

I wasn't sure what to say, they were right. Even I didn't know who I was.

"I'll admit that you have a point, but remember this. I don't have anything but you guys, you're all my family now. I don't remember a thing past finding Luffy and Zoro. Everything that has happened with me is certainly strange and...worrying, but I will always be there for you guys." I started saying. "I don't know who, or even what, I am, but I can also tell its slowly getting better. I've been getting flashes of memories, but they don't make sense yet. I have a feeling that once I remember who I am, everything will be clear and calm...er at least."

I paused for moment, collecting my thoughts.

"I don't know why, but I have a feeling Ms. All-Sunday has something to do with all this. Whatever she said caused me to remember some things...but..."

"Would you kindly." Zoro said, finally speaking from his place by the railings.

I turned and waited for...something, an order of some kind. He did ask so nicely after all. I waited for him to finish but he didn't say anything, he just kept looking at me.

"Well?" I asked. Zoro looked confused.

"Well what?"

"What do you want?"

"I don't want anything, I was telling you what she said. 'Would you kindly return my hat'."

I was confused

"But you don't wear a hat."

"I know that! That's what the woman said, 'would you kindly return my hat'!" Zoro yelled. I didn't know why he was getting so upset about it.

"I don't have your hat, so how can I return it?" I asked, ever more confused.

Zoro's eye twitched. He gave an inarticulate scream of rage and charged at me, if it wasn't for Nami's quick intervention I'm sure he would have killed me.

"Would you kindly get my hat?" She asked.

I walked back to her room while thinking about which one she wanted, it was kinda sunny out so I guessed she wanted her sun-hat. When I returned everyone was staring at me while I handed Nami her hat.

"What?" I asked looking around, wondering if I had something on me.

"Would you kindly slap Zoro." Nami commanded.

The target in question had been grumbling something about a 'witch', not even able finish an indignant 'What!' before I backhanded him back to the deck. He stood and rubbed the pink mark on his face.

"Would you kindly stop listening to Nami!" He yelled. Nami shouted something at Zoro then at me, but I didn't pay attention to her.

I quickly grew bored with the situation and walked over to the blue haired girl who had watched us, perplexed.

"Hey, did Luffy convince you to join him as well?" I asked.

"Just until we make it to my home, my name is Vivi." She said, sounding very polite. "And that is Carue."

She pointed to the large duck fishing with Luffy and Usopp, who quacked and saluted.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Kendrick. If you don't mind me asking, why are you here? Don't you work for Broke Works or whoever?" I asked.

Vivi suddenly looked both angry and guilty at the same time.

"No, I don't." She started, for a second I thought she was going to cry. "I was infiltrating Baroque Works to find proof they were causing the revolution in my home country of Alabasta. I'm sorry for how I acted, but I had to remain undercover to learn as much as I could...not that it mattered much in the end."

She muttered that last part, so I almost couldn't hear it.

"Why is that?." I asked.

"It turned out that Miss All-Sunday, the woman me and...Igaram...had been tracking, knew about us the whole time." She started. "She only acted upon it when we learned the identity of their leader, Crocodile."

As soon as she said that, she became very pale and her eyes widened.

"Would you kindly listen to me!" Nami screeched at me, angry.

She had yelled something before, but I hadn't listened to her. She ignored me for now and instead was shaking Vivi who was crying and saying sorry over and over again.

"A second time! He was going to be my way out!" Nami cried, still shaking Vivi.

I reached forward and pulled them apart.

"Ok, what's going on here?" I demanded, worried.

"She told you that Crocodile is the leader of Baroque Works!" She said, slumping just as Vivi did.

"So?"

"So, now I can't use you to not be hunted down by one of the Seven Warlords."

"...What's the 'Seven Warlords'?"

Nami and Vivi both looked at me in shock.

"You don't know what the warlords are?!" They yelled at me.

"No, should I?"

"Kendrick, your supposed to be one of the smart ones!" Nami claimed.

I felt my eye twitch.

"Oh, so since I haven't heard if the Seven Warlords I'm the new Luffy." I stated, pointing over my shoulder.

"Shihihi~it's ok Kendrick, I didn't know what they were either." Luffy said from the side of the deck.

"Listen! The Seven Warlords are powerful pirates under the employ of the world government and Crocodile, the leader of Baroque Works, is one of them." Nami started to explain. "Vivi told us his true identity, so now we are being hunted by him and his organization. Luffy, the idiot, agreed to not only take Vivi home but is also wanting to fight Crocodile!"

I was confused as to what the big deal was, he must be even stronger than Arlong to scare Nami this much.

"And what's wrong with that?" I asked.

"Argh! What is wrong with you guys! How are you having such a hard time understanding the danger here!" She screamed, something she had done a lot of lately.

"Nami, I'm sure everyone here understands the danger. But what can we do about it?" I started. "Luffy is going to be the King of the Pirates, from the moment we all met him danger became a constant in our lives. If we where to leave him now, do you know what we be?"

"What?"

"Cowards. We would be cowards and deserters. If we left Luffy we would become one of the worst kinds of people, the ones that abandon their family." I said.

As I finished, Nami looked a little guilty. I didn't mean for that.

"But at the same time it's ok to be afraid, fear can be a good thing. It shows us our limits and how to overcome them, it can help us to become better than we are. The problem is letting fear control us. It is a hard thing to control our fear, even I have problems with it sometimes." I said, causing Nami to smile slightly.

It was then that I realized how much taller I was than her. I must have been growing still, because I was fall taller than I was before. I later measured myself and learned that I was now 6 feet, 5 inches.

I turned to Vivi who had stood there, watching us with a smile.

"How much do you know about Miss All-Sunday?"


	8. Chapter 8

Fuck my friends.

Immediately after Vivi told me the little she knew about Miss All-Sunday, they all jumped a the chance to tell me what to do. It amazes me how a simple phrase can become the bane of ones existence, 'would you kindly?'. Three words had me dropping everything to do whatever little thing they wanted.

I was glad when they finally calmed down and realized that I probably didn't like being mind controlled. It also helped that Vivi, who didn't like what was happening one bit, had said 'Would you kindly realize what is going on!' to me. That sentence caused two things; the complacent attitude I had with every command shattered and Vivi instantly jumped to the top of my 'favorite people ever' list.

As we pulled into an island called Little Garden, I was still pissed at them. None of them did anything drastic, mostly small thing like 'get me this', 'help me with that' and that sort of thing. Every once in a while Usopp and Luffy would use it to try to pull a prank on me, but I would always get them back with something. Even after they stopped and had their bit of fun, I didn't like the feeling of someone having that much control over me.

I was trying to sleep, something which had evaded me recently, when I heard a loud sound from outside. Hurrying onto the deck I saw Usopp and Nami looking positively terrified. A huge tiger was walking along the ground next to the ship, then suddenly it keeled over and died.

"What! Luffy what just happened?" Nami asked, sounding scared. "I know normal, this is defiantly not it. Someone explain to me how a mammoth tiger can just keel over covered in blood!"

"Log Pose and food be damned, we're not stepping one foot on that island and that's final!" Usopp shouted.

"We can still set the readings from the ship, well just sit tight till then."

"Right!"

"And when that's done, we'll leave and never look back."

"Right."

I stepped forward towards everyone.

"Sorry rain on your parade, but we have to get food." I said, causing Nami and Usopp to glare at me.

"He's right, we didn't even get a bag of flour from the last island. We're in desperate need of supplies."

It was then that I noticed Luffy giggling like a madman over by the edge of the deck.

"Sanji go make lunch!" He giggled.

"You want lunch?" Sanji clarified.

"Yep, and one more thing, make it a great big pirate lunch with lots of meat and no veggies. I'm going to need some more energy." Luffy stated, causing Nami to stomp over.

"Energy for what, what are you doing? Your not leaving here!" Nami said.

"Oh you know ~hihi~ fun stuff. Do you want to come along ~hihihi~" Luffy giggled out, his face shining with excitement.

Sanji left to go get lunch, then Vivi spoke up.

"Say Luffy, would it be alright if I come along with you?" She asked, making Usopp give out a sort of frightened yelp.

"Sure, sounds great." Luffy replied.

"No! Vivi, you can't be serious." Nami said, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, I'd rather not sit here with nothing to do but worry about my troubles. This will keep me busy till the Log resets." Vivi said in reply.

"Out of the question, seriously! It's way to dangerous for you out there!"

"I'll be fine, besides I'll have Carue with me."

Said duck was suddenly stricken with a look of terror, and I was worried that he had a heart attack.

The preparations were made for Luffy and Vivi's trip, and they headed off. Zoro then went to take a walk as well, but when Sanji asked him to hunt anything edible they had an argument that led to them walking into the jungle, determined to find the biggest game.

Me, Usopp and Nami were left alone on the ship. Seeming to realize something about the island, Nami rushed into the library. Before she ran back out, I heard the sounds of something huge getting closer. Nami walked back onto the deck, then quickly dropped whatever book she had brought with her. Both her and Usopp stood there, petrified with looks of terror on their faces. Before us loomed the visage of a huge man, a giant.

I tried as hard as I could to look calm, but internally I was freaking my shit. A giant was standing before us, peering down at us.

"Do you have any alcohol?" It asked.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that, what did you say?" Nami asked sound both calm and terrified at the same time.

"Do you have any alcohol? I've dunk all mine." He asked again.

"We have some below deck." I said, walking down and grabbing a barrel.

I returned and set it down. The giant sat, causing the ground to shake, and reached for it. He opened it up and chugged, all the while Usopp and Nami were just staring at him. They slowly turned their head to me, and just kept staring.

"...what?" I asked, and they just kept staring at me.

I was sure they didn't expect me to do anything. Who did I look like, Luffy?

"Thanks for that, it really hit the spot. My name is-AAARRRGGGGHHHH!" The giant started, but then suddenly screamed.

Behind him I could see that a dinosaur had bit him. Wait...a dinosaur? I looked harder and saw that there indeed was a dinosaur hitting the giant. Why on earth is this place called Little Garden when everything is huge? The giant spun around and decapitated the dinosaur with a huge axe.

Usopp and Nami looked like they were crying.

"Hey, as thanks for the rum how about I cook you a meal. I got some meat now." The giant said, holding up the dinosaurs head.

"Sure, that sounds nice." I replied, not wanting to be rude.

Nami and Usopp's heads snap to me and glared, still slightly crying. I shrugged at them while the giant laughed and stood. He sat his hand down next to the ship, so I grabbed Usopp and Nami and jumped on.

"My name is Brogy, what's yours?" He asked, setting us on his shoulder.

"I'm Kendrick, and the mutes here are Nami and Usopp." I answered, earning me another two glares. Brogy simply laughed, and took us back to his camp. As he was cooking the dinosaur, I wondered why there weren't any other giants here.

"Hey Brogy, are there any more giants on the island?" I asked.

"Only one; my friend and rival Dorry. All the others are back home in Elbaf." Brogy replied, turning the meat over a huge fire.

"Why are you the only ones here?" Usopp asked, finally mustering the courage to speak.

"It's a tradition of our people that when there's a problem between two of our own, they duel to the death and let the gods decide who is right." Brogy explained.

"That's crazy! What could be so important that you kill you kill yourselves over it?" Nami loudly demanded of Brogy, who stopped cooking.

"You know...I can't remember!" Brogy replied, laughing. "It's been so long I've forgotten what we're fighting about!"

"Then why do you keep fighting!" Nami shouted.

"We've fought for a hundred years, it's now a matter of pride." Brogy started to explain. "Whatever brought us here in the first place doesn't matter any longer, only proving ourselves as warriors does. This is the way of our people, the way of Elbaf!"

"That's ridiculous." Nami huffed, turning away slightly.

I looked over to Usopp and saw that he was crying again, but it was different somehow. He had a look of determination and wonder on his face.

"You don't understand." Usopp started. "So what if it seems ridiculous, their pride is at stake. I hope I become like them some day, willing to put anything on the line for my pride, not afraid. I want to be a brave warrior of the sea!"

I smiled and walked towards him, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"I have a feeling your well on your way to realizing that dream Usopp." I told him, making him smile.

Suddenly, there was a loud, booming sound and the ground shook. Brogy stood, then pointed towards the volcano.

"I don't remember when we decided, but that volcano is the signal for us to fight. If I don't return, you are welcome to the meat." He said, then started walking off.

"Wait!" Usopp shouted "Can I come with you, to watch the battle?"

"Sure human, Lets go." Brogy laughed, picking up Usopp and leaving.

This left me and Nami alone at the camp. I laid on the ground and stretched, settling down for a nap. Before I could even close my eyes, however, Nami leaned over me and glared.

"And what do you think you're doing?" She demanded.

"Trying to get some sleep." I replied, pulling my cap over my eyes to block the sun.

"Oh no you're not, what if something dangerous comes along!" She said, stomping her foot.

"Then you'll wake me." I said, tuning her out.

Nami gave a little scream, then stomped around for a bit before stopping. I laid there for a while, listening to the sounds of the jungle. Eventually I started to doze off. It went about as well as it had been.

I had a nightmare again, the same one I had been having. I was on the battlefield again, but it had got slowly worse and worse. It now more resembled a description of hell, the thousands if bodies not helping. Luffy and the others were all there; along with a small furry animal, a man with a metal nose, a skeleton that seemed to have the remains of an Afro, and Miss All-Sunday.

She was at her usual place next to Nami, standing atop the piles. The suited creature appeared again behind them, but this time ignored them and went straight for me. We fought for a bit, with me somehow keeping up, before he got a hold of me with his tentacles and wrapped me up.

"Not...good...enough." A voice said.

"Any suggestions on how to get better asshole?" I growled.

Me and Zoro had been training, but I still couldn't beat this thing. Not even in my dreams.

"Remember." Was all the voice said before the monster started ripping me apart.

I woke up with a start and screamed, scaring Nami.

"What, What's wrong?" She asked, sounding scared.

"N-nothing, just a nightmare." I eventually gasped out, catching my breath.

"A nightmare! You gave me a heart attack over a bad dream!" She screeched.

"What can I say, it was pretty bad." I said quietly, thinking about it.

"...are you ok." Nami asked, looking worried.

"I think so, how long was I asleep?" I replied.

"You only just laid down." She said, causing me to groan.

"At this point I'm losing sleep whenever I lay down." I grumbled, standing up. "Do you want to stay here, or head back to the ship?"

"Let's go to the ship." Nami answered, so we headed off.

On our way through the forest, we saw Zoro leaning against a tree.

"Hey Zoro, still hunting I see." I said, poking fun at the competition.

He didn't react at all, which was weird. It was easy to make Zoro mad. Before I had a chance to say anything, I was wrapped up in something very hard. I struggled to get out, but couldn't move an inch. The last thing I saw before my eyes were covered was some weirdo with a three on his head.

After awhile I found myself stuck to a giant wax cake thing. The guy with his hair in the shape of a three was standing before us and next to him was a blond woman with an umbrella, some guy with a scraggly looking Afro, and a little girl who was making tea.

"Welcome one and all to my famous candle service set." Three-guy said bowing.

"I guess this is what it feels like, to be a candle stuck on a birthday cake." Zoro said.

"Guys, what's that spinning up there?" Nami asked, looking up.

Above us was what appeared to be a pumpkin with candles on it. I thought I could see something falling from it.

"I can't move, great." Nami complained.

"It's not surprising to me that they don't want us moving around, that's what captured means." Zoro said, stabbing at the wax. "Damn, stuffs hard. And I can't put much strength behind my swing at this angle."

"Something's falling!" Vivi gasped.

"Hahahaha~ I do hope you enjoy my candle service." Three-guy said. "You may have noticed the wax flakes that are falling from above, you'll eventually be covered and turned into wax figures."

I shuddered at the thought of being trapped like that. I began to wonder where Luffy and Usopp were.

"You'll become perfectly life-like statues for my collection, something even I couldn't achieve on my own." Three-guy continued. "I will literally capture your spirit and encase it in wax shells, it will be a true masterpiece. You will die for my art."

"I don't think so you freak!" Nami shouted. "I have no interest in dying for whatever it is you consider art."

"I don't think he really cares about you interest Nami." I said, still trying to get free from the cake.

Three-guy looked over, as if noticing me for the first time.

"Ah, Freddy. It's to bad you refused our offer, your skills could have been very useful to our organization." He said.

"What skills are you talking about? And my name's not Freddy, it's Kendrick." I asked, perplexed.

I wasn't that good of a fighter yet, so I couldn't be a very good assassin. I wondered what he was talking about.

"Kendrick? But that doesn't make any sense, why did you say you were Freddy?" Three-guy asked, looking confused. "Back in Loguetown, all those people remembered said you called yourself Freddy Kruger."

'Back in Louguetown? I wasn't even in control of myself at that...oh god." I thought to myself. "What! What people, what did I do!"

"You really don't remember? It's probably a good thing, you should be more focused on you imminent demise than your past crimes." Three-guy laughed.

"Dammit, tell me! Or so help me..." I shouted, renewing my struggles to he out tenfold.

"Or what, there is no possible way to get out of the-" Three-guy started to say, but before he could finish I was suddenly behind him, screaming.

I didn't know what happened; one moment I was stuck in the cake, the next I was up against a tree and a searing pain was flaring up my arm. I screamed and jerked pack, only to find that my right arm was gone from the shoulder down.

"Dammit!" I screamed.

I slammed my good hand against the tree, trying to will the pain away. All of a sudden I was wrapped back up in wax, causing me to shout when some of it brushed past my stump.

"That's some trick, too bad all it did was lose him an arm." Afro-guy said, finally talking.

"That looks like it hurts." The little girl in the hat said.

"No shit, my arm is gone." I growled out, fighting not to scream.

"Be that as it may, I must request to retake your place." Three-guy said, holding me in front of him.

I wasn't sure what came over me, but as he stood there smirking many thoughts ran through my head. Most of them were along the lines of 'hurt, feed' and 'close, open'.

Without thinking I jerked my head forward and tore a chunk out of his shoulder. Three-guy screamed and flung me away, right back onto the cake next to Nami. I sputtered and spit out pieces of wax, it tasted terrible. Under the waxyness, however, was a another flavor that made me thing of tea and books.

"Kendrick! Are you ok?" Vivi asked.

"I've been better." I grumbled, still fighting the pain. I looked up from my new place, stuck laying down in the cake, to Nami and Zoro. They both looked worried and surprised.

"Didn't know I could do that." Was all I said, earring a small smirk from Zoro.

"Hey giant, why are you laying there doing nothing when you could be beating the crap out of this candle guy!" Nami shouted at Brogy, who I just noticed laying next to the cake.

"You can try to convince him but your efforts will be useless. He's a little blue at the moment, you see he just realized how unfairly he won the last fight and he's lost the heart to celebrate." Three-guy said, looking no worse for wear after the bite I took. "He's killed his dear friend Dorry with whom he had fought for one hundred years! Dorry was injured, but he didn't notice. Just imagine how much pain Dorry must have been in and he didn't stand a chance. You did she'd a few tears though, perhaps you where crying for your friend? Hahaha~ now it's no use, there's no undoing it, he's dead and it's all your fault!"

If anything, three-guy could sure talk when he wanted to.

"...I should have seen it, I knew something strange was going on." Brogy said. "From the moment we first started the fight, I knew Dorry was hiding something but I couldn't tell what it was."

"Hmmm? You say that you knew it? Hehe~ your lying." Three-guy laughed. "If you knew something was wrong the. Why didn't you stop the fight, why didn't you give him the chance to rest? I didn't see one shred of pity in the way you ruthlessly cut him down ~hahahah!"

"Grrr~ you know nothing of honorable duels. Someone like you could never understand my tears, what do you know about the way of Elbaf!" Brogy growled. "You think I would shame a warrior who hid the fact that he was weakened so that he could continue to fight. Only a truly great warrior would go through such lengths! And such a man isn't interested In pity!"

Brogy screamed that last part, a truly booming sound considering he was a giant.

"Now I know what really happened, and I must do something about it." Brogy continued. "Now I'm going to finish this with my own two hands."

The wax around Brogy shattered at he stood up.

"That's the least I could do for Dorry, he was a great warrior and my dear friend!" Brogy shouted.

He didn't get very far before an explosion engulfed his face.

"Brogy!" Nami cried.

Explosion after explosion assaulted him, making him fall back to the ground.

"His chattering was getting on my nerves." I heard Afro-guy say.

"Hahaha~ big fool." The blond woman said.

"It seems that I miscalculated, I forgot how freakishly strong these dumb giants can be." Three-guy said. "It looks like your going to require more complete restraint. Wax Wax Handcuffs!"

From my limited vision I could see a wave of wax flow over where I assumed Brogy had fallen. Then some wax flew into the air and hardened into spikes, flying back towards the ground. I heard Brogy scream, I didn't need to see it to know what happened.

"You really are despicable!" Vivi cried.

"Now, let's get these candles going faster." Three-guy said, setting me back into a standing position. "It's time to turn these people into beautiful artistic wax statues!"

"I have a question for you Kendrick." Afro-guy said. "Why did you refuse our offer, you could have been spared from all this."

"It's simple really, I didn't want to be a slave." I replied, smirking.

"A slave?" Blond-girl said, sounding confused.

"Yes, a slave. 'A man chooses, a slave obeys'." I quoted. "I don't remember where I heard it, but it makes sense. You people obey a leader you don't even know, accepting that any failure will result in your demise. Me and my family choose to follow Luffy, he has earned our trust and respect...mostly. If I am to die here then at least I know I died a free man, can you say the same?"

"So what if we don't know who he is, that doesn't make us slaves!" Blond-girl said, clutching her umbrella tightly.

"Crocodile."

"What?"

"Your leader's name is Crocodile, just thought you should know." I said, trying not to laugh.

They all looked scared out of their minds...except for that little girl, she hasn't done much besides drink tea and eat cookies.

"You idiot! Why would you do that!" Three-guy cried.

"Oh you know, ~cough~ ~wheeze~ it's not like your killing us or anything." I choked out, struggling to breath.

The wax was falling more that ever, making it harder to move and breath.

"This isn't good, my hands won't move!" Nami exclaimed. " isn't there anything we can do, I don't want to die like this!"

"My body's already beginning to turn stiff, what are we supposed to do." Vivi said.

"Zoro, Kendrick do something!"

"Hey giant." Zoro said. "You can still move right?"

Brogy grunted in response.

"Good, so can I." Zoro continued. "I say we take them down together, what do you think?"

Everyone gasped.

"Hold on a second, what are you doing?" Nami demanded. "Are you-"

"Yeah."

"Quit messing around, you're not going to cut your own legs off!"

"I'm not messing around at all, it's the only way to get us out of this situation. Are you in or out."

"Are you insane!" Vivi exclaimed. "No way, even if you he down from here you won't get far without legs!"

"There's no way to know for sure until we try." Zoro said. "So are you saying you'd rather just sit here and die, why should we make it easy for those guys to kill us. Dying quietly without a struggle doesn't make you any less dead, Right?"

"Girl was right, this guys insane." Afro-guy mumbled.

"Dying quietly is the least you could do!" Blond-girl cried. " considering you just killed us!"

"Yea, because of you were probably bent hunted right now." Afro-guy said.

"Alright I'm in, lets cut them to pieces." Brogy said.

"Zoro, how are you planning to fight?" I asked.

"Who knows, but I plan to win." Zoro replied, grinning.

"Wait, I'll fight with you!" Vivi exclaimed.

"H-hey, d...d...don't start w-without me." I struggled to get out, the blood loss getting to me.

"You don't look so good." The five three-guys said at once.

"Yeah, well...your hair is stupid." Was what I mumbled out before passing out.


	9. Chapter 9

When I awoke I was back on the ship. I was laying in my hammock, bandaged around my stump and crude braces tied to my legs. There was a dull pain coming from my knees, so I assumed they had gotten broken somehow after I passed out. I heard what sounded like arguing coming from the deck, so I swung the hammock to try to see out the window. All this accomplished was to dump me onto the floor.

"Son of a whore!" I shouted, landing on my stump.

A second later Usopp and Luffy were carrying me out to the deck. Vivi l, Sanji and Zoro were all out there along with a sick looking Nami.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked as I was set down carefully against the upper bannister.

"Nami is sick, but she won't admit it." Vivi explained.

"I told you, I'm no-"

"How bad is it?"

Vivi handed me a thermometer.

"...Nami, I'm going to close my eyes. If I open them and you aren't resting in your room, I'm going to send Nojiko a transcript of our first poker game." Was all I said, then I closed my eyes and started counting down from 30.

I heard her gasp.

"Sanji, get me to a bed now!" I heard her exclaim.

The sounds of footsteps getting quieter signaled my victory.

"I'm sorry Vivi, but were going to need to get Nami a doctor if we want to make it in time to save Alabasta." I apologized.

"I was thinking the same thing, we should also get you checked out as well." She replied, giving a small smile.

"By the way, what happened to my legs?" I asked.

Vivi cringed.

"When you passed out you kind of fell...forward." She said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Wow...even picturing that in my head is awful."

"Yea, it looked like you were doing the limbo." Luffy said, bending forward at the knees.

"...please don't ever do that again."

* * *

A little while later I found myself in a chair next to Nami's bed. Considering my limited mobility, it made sense that I would take care of her since I couldn't help very well on the ship. Usopp had fashioned a wheelchair for me to get around the room, which I was abusing by just rolling back and forth along the edge of the bed pointlessly.

"Kendrick." I heard Nami mumble.

"What is it Nami, do you need some water." I asked, rolling closer.

"How are you still alive?" She asked quietly.

Nami had a glazed look to her eyes, and she wasn't even looking at me. I didn't think she even knew she was talking.

"I don't know, I ask myself that question everyday." I replied.

I really did. My scars were a constant reminder of what has happened to me; first I was gutted, then I was decapitated by a pirate crew, my head was cut in half back on Whiskey Peak, and now my legs are broken and I'm missing an arm. Whatever I am I'm certainly not human, not completely. Whenever I tried to remember something farther back than Zoro and Luffy, all I found was pain.

"I miss Bell-mère sometimes." Nami mumbled.

"I know, and I'm sure she misses you as well. Just be glad she's having someone watch over you." I said.

"Who?" Nami asked.

"Me. Now go back to sleep, we can't have the worlds greatest navigator sick for too long." I said, smiling.

Nami gave a small smile back and dosed back off. I watched her to make sure she was asleep, then rolled over to the other side of the room. I grabbed myself a blanket and got comfortable next to her bed, watching her as she shifted and groaned like she was having a nightmare.

"Come on Nami, you can make it. I promised to take care of you and I intend to keep that promise." I said quietly.

I sat there for a bit, every once in a while changing the towel on Nami's forehead. I stared hearing a commotion from outside, but paid it no mind. It was probably just Luffy trying to steal some food from the kitchen again.

"Stop eating the ship!" I heard someone yell, then the sound of someone getting hit very hard.

Wondering what was going on I rolled over to the door, but thought better of it when I remembered we were still at sea. It wouldn't do Nami any good to fall out of bed because of a particularly violent wave. It wasn't until lunch time anyone came in.

"Here you go, food for you and Nami." Sanji said, handing me two meals.

I could tell which one was Nami's, there was clearly more heart put into it. I wasn't so surprised, that was the standard we had come to expect from him; the girls got the freshest ingredients and we got was left over. I didn't mind too much, even if he won't show it Sanji cares about how we eat so it's still delicious.

"Thanks Sanji. Hey, what was going on earlier? I heard some strange sounds." I asked, setting down the plates on a table.

"Some idiots attacked us and tried to eat the ship." Sanji replied, lighting a cigaret.

"Huh, guess that means we've seen the full range of diets." I said, taking a bite of my food.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well everyone eats regular things like vegetables and fruits and things like that, then there's me and my encounters with more...exotic meats I suppose you could say. Now we have people eating inanimate objects."

"I see. Hey Kendrick, what's with the whole...cannibalism...thing?"

It was an awkward question, but I had expected it for a while now.

"Honestly, I have no clue. The first time I remember it happening was back in Arlong Park. I ate a fishman corpse and it tasted terrible, but it saved my life."

"How so?"

"When me and Luffy were fighting Arlong, I was injured. It was pretty bad, but when I ate the corpse I was healed."

"Really?"

"Yea, and on Whiskey Peak I was hurt again. One of the agents got lucky and cut my head in half."

"That's how you got the scar?"

"Yeah."

Nothing was said for a moment, Sanji looked like he was thinking about something.

"Listen, I have an idea, but don't tell anybody. At all. Ok?" Sanji said.

"Ok, what is it?" I asked

"I don't like seeing you like this, trapped in a wheelchair, and it seems that for whatever reason a...special diet...does you good. If you can procure the necessary ingredients, I'd be willing to make you a special dish."

I was shocked. Sanji took pride in his cooking, to do this would could spell the end of his career if anyone outside the crew found out.

"I-I don't know what to say. Thank you." I said, smiling.

Sanji smirked.

"Don't mention it. Ever." Sanji glared at the last part.

I held up my hands as a sign of peace. Sanji left me and Nami alone again so I woke her gently.

"Common, I got lunch here for you." I said, helping her get upright.

She mumbled something I couldn't understand as I helped her eat. For reasons I didn't know at the time, Nami's dish looked particularly delicious today. Looking around to make sure Sanji wasn't watching from somewhere, I stole a quick bite to see how it tasted. It was about the same as my meal, but it dulled the pain in my legs a little.

'There must be some kind of medicine for Nami mixed in' I thought, turning back to my food.

* * *

It was a couple of days later that we heard the good news.

"Island, dead ahead!" I heard someone call from above.

"Hey, what do you know. Guess you won't be sick much longer." I said to a sleeping Nami.

A couple if minutes later I heard some yelling from the deck. Deciding it was safe enough to leave her alone I rolled out the door. Outside some people with weapons had the boat surrounded, pointed at us. I didn't know how at the time, but I could tell that they were nervous and scared. One in particular was shaking pretty bad, eyes flickering between Vivi and Luffy.

It was obvious that he wasn't experienced with the rifle he had; he couldn't keep still and he was resting his finger on the trigger, pointing it at Vivi. I rolled forward as fast as I could and used my arm to fling myself over the bannister toward Vivi, tackling her just as the stranger fired.

The bullet hit me somewhere in the back, causing a cold fire to spread from the wound. I heard Luffy shout and saw him tense up like he was going to spring forward.

"Luffy, Wait!" I shouted, he held still. "These people are scared, it would do no good to hurt them. Just calm down."

"Kendrick! Are you ok?" Vivi cried.

"I'm fine, just make sure Luffy doesn't do anything stupid." I said, not being able to suppress a groan of pain.

Vivi got on her knees and bowed before the crowd.

"It all right we won't land, but can you please call us a doctor." Vivi pleaded. "Our friend is dying from a serious illness, I'm begging you please help us!"

I rolled over onto my stomach.

"Luffy, not all battles can, or should, be won through fighting. A peaceful route is usually the best." I said, trying to how as best I could. "Think of what could happen to Nami if we fought them."

"Yea, right, I'm sorry about that. Please help us, call a doctor." Luffy said, bowing as well. "Our friend needs you."

"...I'll show you to our village." A voice said, making us look up. "Follow me."

The speaker was a man with a large sword and green coat. He turned away and started walking into the snow-covered island.

"See, just ask politely." Vivi said, smiling.

"Yeah, you guys are incredible." He said.

I smirked, then crawled my way back to the wheelchair. I pulled myself in and noticed that my bandage had come undone. It was a tangled mess now so I took it off to try to fix it, only to find that my stump had healed over.

'That was awfully quick.' I thought, then rolled over to get Nami.

We then found ourselves traveling through the snow, Nami wrapped up in blankets on my lap while Sanji pushed us. The snow was to deep for me to both move myself and keep Nami stable, and Sanji was mad he didn't get to carry her, so I offers that he push us. Carue and Zoro had stayed behind to guard the ship.

"There is one thing I feel I should warn you about though, the only doctor we have here is actually a witch" Sword-guy said.

"Huh, a witch?" Usopp said, confused.

"You've got to be kidding me, everything about this island is messed up." Sanji complained. "What do you people call this weird place anyway?"

"Actually this land still doesn't have a name." Sword-guy said.

"An island without a name? I didn't know that was possible." Vivi wondered aloud.

"Aaahhh! A bear!" Usopp suddenly screamed. "Hurry everyone, pretend to be dead!"

A huge bear with a walking stick was trudging through the snow, coming toward us.

"A hiking bear, it poses no threat." Sword-guy explained. "Remember to bow, its proper manners."

We eventually came to a small village full of people.

"This is the village were we live, its name is Bighorn." Sword-guy said.

"Looks at all the weird animals walking around." Luffy said.

"Yeah, it is snow country." Said Usopp.

"Look Nami, a village with people. We're here." Sanji said.

"Thanks for the help everyone." Sword-guy started to say. "If you're not a guard you can return to your work."

"Alright Dalton, we'll leave them to you." Some one said, then the crowd dispersed.

"You mean those men weren't your security forces?" Vivi asked.

"No, they're just ordinary citizens. Come to my house for now." Dalton explained.

We entered the house and laid Nami on the bed.

"I guess I should introduce myself, my name is Dalton and I'm the captain if the islands security forces." Dalton said. "Please forgive our less than hospital greeting. Excuse me, may I ask you a question?"

Vivi looked up as the inquiry was directed a her.

"It's just that, you look so familiar to me for some reason." Dalton explained.

"I-n-no! I just have one of those faces I guess." Vivi stuttered out.

'And bright blue hair, kind of a giveaway.' I thought.

"Anyway, could you tell us more about this doctor o-or witch if that's what she is. Nami's fever has gone up to 107."

I choked on the water I was drinking. If we didn't get her something soon...I didn't want to think about it.

"How long has she had it!" Dalton asked.

"It's been several days and it just keeps getting higher and higher." Vivi explained.

"I see, she'll likely die if it gets any worse." Dalton said.

"Yes, but we have no idea what the illness is much less how to treat it. We don't know how to help her." Vivi explained.

"So where is this doctor, we need her!" I asked.

"Do you see those mountains out the window?" Dalton asked.

"Yeah, I noticed them earlier." Usopp said, turning toward the window.

Our vision was obstructed by the two huge snow sculptures created by Ussop and Luffy.

"Super huge snowman!"

"And feared Snowzilla!"

"Get in here before I kill you!"

* * *

"Those mountains out there at know as the Drum Rockies. Look closely, do you see the castle on the tallest one; the one in the middle?" Dalton started.

"A castle?" Usopp said.

"That castle has lost its king." Dalton continued.

"Yeah, I see it up there." Sanji said.

"What's so important about the castle?" Vivi asked.

"That castle is where our lands only doctor lives, Dr. Kureha, she's the one who people here call a witch." Dalton said.

"What! Of all places why does she have to live on top of a mountain? We need to call her here right now, Nami needs her help!" Sanji exclaimed.

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid there's no way to contact her." Dalton said.

"You can't be serious! What kind of a doctor is she?" Sanji demanded.

"Her skills as a doctor are quite impressive actually, however she's an eccentric old woman. She nearly 140 years old now."

"140? No wonder she doesn't get around much."

"Oh and one more thing, She likes picked plums"

"What happens when people here get sick or injured, doesn't she help them?" Vivi asked.

"She comes down from the mountain whenever she feels like." Dalton explained. "She looks around for patients, she treats them, then before she leaves she takes whatever she wants from there houses as payment."

"She doesn't sound like a very nice lady." Usopp said.

"It kinda sounds like she's a pirate." Luffy said.

"But how is a woman as old as she is capable of getting down that mountain?" Vivi asked.

"Does it really matter?" I interjected. "Does it matter how old she is, or how she gets around, or even how she gets paid? Dr. Kureha seems to be the only one that at can help Nami, so we have to find her even If it means that I carry Nami up that mountain and make her help!"

It was then we noticed Luffy slapping Nami awake.

"Luffy you idiot what are you doing to her!" We yelled at him.

She opened her eye slowly.

"Here's the thing, the only way to see the doctor is to climb the mountain. So were going to have to climb the mountain." He said.

"Hey Luffy, I was exaggerating!" I said. "How do you expect to get her up there?"

"Easy, she'll ride on my back." Luffy said.

"That's only going to make her even more sick!" Vivi exclaimed.

"What's the problem, I thought we needed to hurry?"

"We do but you'll never make it up there, look at how steep and tall that thing is!"

"I can do it."

"Maybe you can but climbing that thing would be way to hard on Nami!" Sanji interjected.

"But look, even if we fall or something we'll land in snow." Luffy said.

"That doesn't matter! A fall like that would kill even a healthy person!"

Nami made a little squeak like she was trying to talk.

"I need to get over this thing, and quickly." Nami said, her voice weak from underuse. "We need to hurry, for Vivi. Common captain, let's go."

"That's what I'm talking about, leave it to me." Luffy said, hi-fiveing the hand Nami pulled from under her blankets.

"I can't believe this, now our navigator's as crazy as our captain." Usopp complained.

"Now you know you're in no shape for a trip like this Nami." Sanji said.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Vivi asked. "It'll take you hours to get there."

"Hey old guy get some meat for the road." Luffy demanded.

"Meat?" Dalton asked.

"Right, I'm coming with you." Sanji said, looking deathly serious.

"You two better get going then." I said. "Remember, if you fall or get hit once Nami won't make it. Now get."

"I guess your set on going. I'm not going to try to stop you, but I will ask that you at least climb up from the other side." Dalton said. "That way you can avoid the Lapahns that are on this side, they're fierce carnivorous rabbits. If you run into a pack of them your as good as dead."

"Really? But we've got to get up there, we'll be just fine. Right?" Luffy said, turning to Sanji.

"Yeah, fine." Sanji said, still sounding serious.

"You can't be serious! Do you know how easily those things can kill you?" Dalton said, trying fruitlessly to convince Luffy and Sanji to go around.

'If they go the long way, they won't make it in time. If they go the short way they might not make it back. Nothing can be easy can it.' I thought to myself.

"Nah, we'll be alright. Hurry it up Sanji before Nami dies!" Luffy yelled, running off.

"Don't say things like that!" Sanji shouted l, running after him.

I watched them run off into the distance, then started rolling off towards the other towns.

"Kendrick, where are you going?" Vivi asked.

"I'm going to the other towns to make sure the doctor is at the castle." I explained, still going. "Don't want their trip to be for nothing now do we?"

I rolled off into the snow.

I don't know how long I was out, but I quickly became lost.

"Great, Zoro's starting to rub off on me." I said to myself.

I then started hearing the sound of something running, getting closer and closer. I turned all around but couldn't see whatever it was, then I looked back to where I was heading and saw something blue right in my face before I was knocked out.

* * *

When I awoke I was laying in a bed, covered in bandages. I looked around to try to figure out where I was, deducing it was the castle from the architecture and slab walls. I saw Nami laying across the room in another bed and breathed a sigh if relief.

'Guess this means Sanji and Luffy made it.' I thought, sitting up.

Next to my bed was a new wheelchair, this one looking far more well made. I slid into it from the bed and rolled around, testing it out. I heard a gasp from behind me and turned to see the furry creature from my dreams, standing there looking at me.

I got a better look at him here, and found that he was one of the most adorable things I had ever seen. He had a little blue nose and was wearing a pink hat, with tiny hooves as his hands and feet.

"What are you doing! You should be in bed resting after a crash like that." He shouted.

"Who are you?" I asked, ignoring him.

"Chopper, but that doesn't matter. You need to return to bed now!" He said.

"Ok, ok. Just calm down." I said, sliding back on the bed.

"So Chopper, where is the doctor?" I asked.

"You mean Dr. Kureh? She's..."

I didn't hear the last part as flashes of memories flooded my mind. Most of then where of Chopper's life, but there were a few others as well. I saw a small black box that spewed both wisdom and nonsense, along with terrible carnage and pain. The name 'Event Horizon' flashed across my mind only to be snuffed out, as if it was an escapee getting shot down.

I groaned from the pain and laid back into the bed.

"What's wrong?" Chopper asked, sounding worried.

"Nothing. Hey Chopper, how would you like to join a pirate crew?" I asked.

"W-what?" Chopper said quietly, shocked.

"I'm asking if you want to be a pirate? Have all sorts of adventures, see new things, meet interesting people. What do you say?"

"I-I-I can't, you're a human and I'm a reindeer, a monster, it wouldn't work."

"Hahahah~ Tony Tony Chopper, I am many things but human is not one of them. Trust me, when you join you'll see that you fit right in with my family"

"I said I can't, what don't you understand about that! And how do you know my name?"

"I'll tell you and the rest if the crew later, I'm going back to bed now."

I got under the covers and turned over, ignoring whatever Chopper was saying. He was adorable when he was upset. I quickly fell asleep, no nightmares plaguing me that time.

I awoke to the sounds if someone screaming. I shot up and saw that Luffy and Sanji where chasing Chopper around the castle. As they ran past me I shot my hand out and grabbed Chopper, holding him against me.

"Good job Kendrick! Now we can eat him." Luffy said excited.

Sanji was listing off al the ways he could cook Chopper.

"Hey Luffy, want to hear a secret?" I asked, getting a devious idea.

Luffy leaned forward and I whispered into his ear, causing his head to snap to Sanji with a look that made him freeze in place.

"SANJI!" Luffy screamed and launched himself at the cook.

Sanji ducked and ran outside, Luffy In hot pursuit.

"What did you tell him?" Chopper asked once I let go of him.

"That Sanji had been feeding Luffy fake meat made out if vegetables." I responded, smiling.

I heard a giggle and looked over to see that Nami was awake.

"Your looking better." I said. "I'm guessing we have Chopper to thank for that."

"Yeah, he's a pretty amazing doctor." Nami said.

"Don't think that makes me happy or anything idiot!" Chopper said, doing a little happy dance.

'Quite the conflicting response.' I thought.

"I know, another reason he's going to be great to have around." I said.

"Are you trying to steal my apprentice now?" A voice asked.

I turned to see Dr. Kureh looking at us from a doorway.

"If it's not too much trouble." I said, causing her to smirk.

"Your pretty confident, what makes you think I want him to leave?"

"I know you don't, but you're not going to let him stay either."

Dr. Kureh's smirk vanished.

"You presume much for someone who knows little."

"I know more than you think."

"Is that so? And how would you know anything?"

"My running theory? Magic."

Dr. Kureh's smirk returned.

"Really, magic?"

"As I said, just a theory. But more on that later, we should duck."

I dove to the floor and covered my head, followed by Nami, Chopper and Dr. Kureh. Luffy's stretched leg tore through the walls right above us. I had heard their fight getting closer, then Luffy announced one of his attacks so I knew to get out-of-the-way.

"What are those idiots thinking! Their injuries aren't healed yet!" Dr. Kureh growled, running out the door.

"We'll, that's enough excitement for one day. I'm going back to bed." I said, pulling myself up.

It was then that I realized the snow was getting inside.

"We should probably find new room.

* * *

It was a couple of minutes later when I started hearing a bunch of shouting. I got I'm my wheelchair and rolled outside to see what the commotion was about, only to find that ex-king Wapol had returned.

Luffy and Chopper were fighting his two body guards as he ate...something. Flashes of all this bastard had done grazed my mind.

"Wapol!" I screamed, causing everyone to stop and look at me. "Since you like eating so much, why don't you see what it's like to be on the other side!"

I flickered, then was suddenly tearing a chunk out of him and eating it. Wapol screamed and threw me...off the side of the cliff.

'I didn't think this though at all' I thought, falling.

I saw Vivi and the others staring up the cable-car, and someone in purple sitting on a tree.

'Well look who we have here' I thought, trying to teleport a second time.

I learned then that when I teleport, I keep my momentum. So instead of suddenly appearing on the branch next to Miss All-Sunday, I suddenly appeared impaled on a branch next to Miss All-Sunday.

"Fuckers!" I screamed, startling her.

I wasn't sure, but I didn't think anything important got hit, the branch was jutting out from between my lungs and under my sternum. It hurt to inhale after a certain point, my lungs pressing up against the intrusion.

"H-Hello there." I struggled to get out.

"Hello, seems that you're in quite the situation." Miss All-Sunday said, regaining her composure.

"This?" I asked, indicating the branch. "Just a flesh wound, I'll sleep it off after I get back to Chopper."

I then started to pull myself off of the branch with my arm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Miss All-Sunday said calmly.

"You're probably right, but I need to get to the top of this mountain here, so..." I said , wrenching myself free.

I fell from the tree to the snow below, my wound now bleeding profusely.

'It has not been a good week for me' I thought to myself, struggling to crawl only to black out.

And that was the third time I died. And the third time we took control.

We stood, shocking the First of Many. We turned to the town where the Untouchables learned of the Happy Doctor and moved, our six arms carrying us through the snow. We found the remains of the King's Slaves and began to consume, our wounds healing. The Broken Master's body was fixed, only the scar of another failure being left.

The First of Many was watching us still, we could smell the apprehension and curiosity she had for us. We were angry for a moment, what gave her the right to not fear us? We reminded ourselves that we were the ones who allowed it; she was special, like the Untouchables. She was the First of Many, the Lost Child, an instrument of the Awakening.

'She's a simple human.' We told ourselves.

'So were we once, long ago' We reminded ourselves.

'Yes, but now we are better than them.'

'Or are we far worse?'

The Lost Child was watching us, learning. She loves to learn. We moved to be closer to her, our arms leaving us so we looked more like the Dreamers. The Lost Child stepped back, fear growing within her.

"Calm child, you need not fear us." We said.

"What are you?" The Lost Child asked of us.

"We are many where you are one, we are one where you are many." We explained. "We have infinite names and many titles; we are the Harbinger of Fear and the Shepard of Fire, Skinwalker and Voice-Taker. We were born of your nightmares before you had thought, we were killed by your knowledge when you gained sight. Where we had no one we have our Broken Master, where we were slaves we are now free. We once were yearned for by death and now we are shunned by it, where we once turned it away we now beg for its return. But do not fear us, child, for you are special; you are the First of Many, destined to fix our Broken Master."

"Who is your master?" The Lost Child asked.

"He will have many names, and many titles. For now, the Untouchables know him as Kendrick. Help us child, fix our Broken Master. Help us, and you will find all you need." We said. "He is returning, we must go. Remember this, Lost Child. With The Lord of Sands you are a slave, with our Broken Master you will be free."

It was then that we left. It was then that I regained consciousness.

I was laying in the snow, feeling better. I looked around from the ground and saw that I was back at Dalton's village.

"I'm going to earn their trust and figure out how much they know." I heard a voice say.

I stood and looked around, seeing no one until Miss All-Sunday walked from around a building, dragging one of Wapol's soldiers.

"Hello there, I don't suppose you know how I got here?" I asked.

"You mean you don't remember?" Miss All-Sunday asked I turn.

"Not thing past bleeding out." I replied.

"You turned into...something and ate the remains of Wapol's troops." She said.

"That would explain why I'm all better I suppose...wait. You said I turned into something?" I asked, confused.

"Yes. A tall, faceless creature in a suit." Miss All-Sunday clarified.

"Well isn't this some bullshit!" I cried, throwing my hands in the air. "I was just learning to deal with the fact that I fucking eat people, and now your telling me I turned into some monster!"

I slumped over, suddenly tired.

"Why can't life be ever be simple, it's always throwing some bullshit at me." I complained. "~sigh~ Next your probably going to try to kill me or something."

My head shot up at the thought, weren't we actually enemies?

"Your not going to kill me, right?" I asked, backing away slightly.

"Fufufu~ No, I'm not. I'm actually looking to join you, if that's alright." Miss All-Sunday said.

I was apprehensive; she killed Igaram and works for Baroque Works, the agency that's been trying to kill us. It was probibly a ploy to try to lead us to a trap or something.

"I don't think the others will go for it, especially Vivi considering you killed her friend." I said, crossing my arms.

"Maybe if I have someone to help convince them my chances would be better?" Miss All-Sunday said, smirking.

"And who would that be?" I asked.

"You perhaps?"

"And why would I do that?"

"I could find ways of...convincing you."

The way she said that made me slightly uncomfortable.

"How about we start with something small, what's your real name?"

Miss All-Sunday didn't say anything for a while, she looked to be weighing her options.

"My name it Robin, Nico Robin" she finally said.

I was instantly assaulted with memories. I saw many things, so much had happened to Robin over her life it was almost too much to handle. I then fell to my knees, clutching my head screaming; different memories, my own, where starting to slip out. There was pain, and lots of it, but there was more. I saw a family, friends and strangers; a whole life I had forgotten. There was joy, loneliness and regret for many thing I didn't know. I heard someone say my name, then others, then thousands; all screaming a single word. A name. My name.

"Kendrick!"


	10. Chapter 10

I shot up from the bed I was laying on and screamed, startling Chopper who was checking over me. I looked around and found myself in the infirmary, now containing more official looking equipment courtesy of the good doctor.

"Kendrick, your awake! Everyone was worried abou-"

"Ya-ya, we'll celebrate later. Where's Robin." I asked, pulling on my clothes.

"She's on deck, but you need to stay an-"

"Later Chopper." I said, rushing out the door.

Robin was over by the figurehead, leaning over the railing. Vivi, Luffy and the others were all milling about, looking shocked when I burst through the door. Everyone's heads turned to me.

"Kendrick, you're awake!" Vivi said, excited.

"Told you he'd make it!" Usopp declared loudly, doing a victory pose.

I ignored them, hurrying to my target Nico Robin.

"Kendrick, you're looking better. Have a nice-" I didn't give her a chance to finish, instead teleporting and pulling her into a hug.

Everyone, especially Robin, was shocked. Nobody did anything for a moment, then I began to talk.

"Listen and listen well, I'm not good with words or feelings or anything like that. I say what I mean when I mean it, I don't beat around the bush if I don't have to." I started, hugging her tighter. "I can't pretend to know how it felt, having your home and family taken from you like that. I can't pretend to understand the humiliation and pain you went through on Ohara. I can't pretend to understand the betrayal and remorse you felt after everyone you thought cared for you left time and time again. What I can understand is the loneliness, the feeling of having no one to rely on, no one to be happy with, to be sad. No one there to help you when you need it. As far as I can remember, that was my life before I found the cure for it all."

"W-what was it?" Robin breathed out.

"I found them, a family. I found people who won't leave, that will stay together through it all. The people who know when you need to learn to pick yourself up, and when you need a helping hand. The people who wont abandon you just because they're scared, or because they don't need you." I continued. "They will always need you, to be there for them and do what they can't. I don't expect it to happen overnight, maybe not any time soon at all, but I want you to try something if you think you can do it."

"What?"

"Let us in. Let us see you at your best and your worst. Let us be there to celebrate your triumphs, and pick you up when you fall. Let us be your family, and we will never leave you." I finished, looking down at Robin and smiling.

For a second she didn't do anything, then she finally raised her arms and hugged back.

"Thank you." She whispered, letting go.

I turned to the crew, who all had varying reactions. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper looked confused, Sanji looked like he wanted to kill me, Zoro didn't seem that interested, and I couldn't tell what Nami or Vivi were thinking.

"Kendrick, how could you just accept her like that after everything she has done?" Vivi asked, sounding angry.

"Igaram is alive." I said, shocking her.

"W-what?"

"Igaram is alive, Robin faked his death so that he could make it to Alabasta unhindered." I explained, defending Robin.

"But why?" Vivi asked, so very confused.

I glanced over to Robin.

"That's not my place to say, Robin has to decide what she tells you all. But she's like you all in a way, she understands loss." I explained, smiling. I flickered over to Zoro and grabbed his Saké from him, then flickered over to Chopper and hoisted him onto my shoulders. I flickered back over to Robin and pulled her into a sideways hug, lifting the bottle into the air.

"Enough of this heartfelt mess, now is time for merriment!" I shouted. "To Tony Tony Chopper and Nico Robin, the newest Straw Hat pirates!"

I downed the bottle and threw it back over to Zoro who grumbled in annoyance.

"Now, let's party!"

* * *

And we did. Sanji made a feast to welcome our new members, swooning over Robin, Vivi and Nami the whole time. Usopp, Luffy and Chopper were playing some games while the three girls were talking like they've known each other forever. Me and Zoro were deadlocked in a drinking match, quickly running out of alcohol. I was surprised at how well I was doing considering I never drank the stuff, at least as far as I could remember. It was down to the last of the bottles when I thought of something to spice the game up.

"Zoro me boy, we're quickly runnin out of the liquid courage. I'm thinkin pe'haps we should make sum adjustments to the stuff lest we risk not fanishing this bout if ours." I said, my voice taking on a strange accent I couldn't control.

"What's your idea?" Zoro asked.

"I sey we ask ol' Chopper fer sum of 'is medicinal alcohol, 'long wit sum o' Nami's tangerines fer flavor." I explained.

"Sure, but you have to get the tangerines." Zoro said, smirking.

"Wat, are ye sc'rd of teh girly now boyo?" I mocked, laughing.

"No, I'm just not suicidal."

"Ack, whatever ye sey. Wee little swordsman can' keep 'is cool around the young lassie."

I trudged over to where the girls were sitting, getting Nami's attention.

" 'ey Nami, hows aboot ya let me an' Zoro barrow sum o' yer tangerines?" I asked, earning myself a glair.

"For your silly drinking game, I think not." She huffed out.

"Now now, don' be so hesty lass. Tink o' it like dis, when are ye ever goin' teh see the swordsman baten like dis ever againe?" I sarted, trying to convince her. "Liddle ol' me comes along an' beats 'im at 'is own game, never once dranken teh stuff before. You coul' make dat 'appen wit only given up t'ree or faur o' yer precious frut."

"From what you've been telling me, this opportunity shouldn't be passed up." Robin interjected.

"~clap~ See! The liddle girly gots the right idier, wat do ya sey lass?"

"As entertaining as it would be, I'm going to have to refuse. What's going on with your voice anyway?" Nami asked, noticing how I had been talking.

"Wat are ye ta'kin aboot lass?" I asked, not hearing it.

"That right there!" She cried, exasperated.

"Ah don' know wat yer on aboot lass, are ye sure ye don' wan' teh give us them tangerines?" I asked one last time.

"Yes I'm sure!"

"Well than im sorry teh 'ave an' do dis teh ya, but..." I whispered the last part into her ear, causing her to blush bright red.

"Aaaugh! Fine you can have some, just leave!"

"Ah new ye would see t'ings my wey!" I said, walking away in victory.

"What did he say?" I heard Vivi ask.

"Nothing I'm willing to repeat."

* * *

Because of the ruckus me and Zoro had made, everyone had gathered to see the results of our drinking match. We took the last few bottles and mixed in the extra alcohol and tangerines, preparing them. We resumed our positions and started drinking again, the added ingredients having an interesting effect when paired with what we already had.

It was down to the last three bottles and we had slowed tremendously from our previous chugging. Zoro and I drank the first two bottles and reached for the third.

"Ah don' suppose anyone's got ah few bottles 'idden awey anywhere?" I said, not expecting anything.

"Actually, I have a few." Robin said, coming to the rescue.

"Ah, great job lass! Comin' teh save me yet againe." I said, grabbing them from her hands.

We poured the rest of our last bottle evenly between the two Robin had and drank. Now it was a matter of who'll fall first.

"Feelin' tired there laddie?" I asked, laughing.

"Not in the least, and what's going on with your voice?" Zoro replied.

"Ah said it befor an' I'll sey it againe, I don' know wat yer on aboot. Nothin's wrong wit me voices, their all soundin' teh same ter me." I said , exasperated. "Evan teh ones dat be tellin' me teh kill the lot o' ya, or teh ones dat sey I should be 'aven me wey wit the girlies over 'ere."

"What did you say geezer! If you try anything like that I'll kill you!" Sanji shouted, standing between me and the three women.

"Oh? Ya wan' a fight now do ya laddie?" I said, drunkenly confident. "All right t'en put up yer chops, unless ya don' think yer 'ard enough to come an' 'ave a go?"

I flickered away from the others.

"Come at me lad!" I shouted, starting the fight.

Sanji launched a kick at me and slammed me into the mast, but before he could pull back I grabbed his leg and jerked him off-balance. I got a hold of his other leg and spun him as fast as I could before throwing him into the wall under the upper deck. He recovered and launched a flurry of kicks which either hit dead on or I barley dodged. I turned and grabbed Nami's hand, which was heading right for my head.

"There'll be non a dat now, liddle lass." I said, flickering her back to the others before flickering behind Sanji.

I grabbed him and bent backwards, slamming his head into the ground. I then slid around so I was holding him upside down and flickered into the air, spinning. We fell and I slammed Sanji's head into the ground a second time, this time letting him go.

"Now be a good lad an' clean the mess you made." I said, walking back over to Zoro.

He was staring at me, shocked at what had happened.

"It might be teh alcohol talkin', but hows aboot me an' yew settle this the ol' fashioned way." I laughed, trying to look as threatening as I could.

For a response all I got was Zoro falling over, unconscious.

"Hahahah~ Let dat be a lesson ter the lot o' ya! This geezer can' still kick ass any day o' teh week." I declared confidently.

"That was cool! The only other person I've seen beat Sanji like that was the old guy, Zeff." Luffy declared, much to the annoyance of Sanji.

The names clicked together in my mind, resulting in a headache. If I were sober I could have shrugged it off no problem, but as I was it was the equivalent of getting beat over the head with a stick.

"Now what did ya go an' do dat fer?" I groaned out, falling unconscious.

* * *

I woke up in my hammock, a splitting headache following me as I walked onto the deck. I wondered over to the infirmary hoping chopper had something for me. I walked in and found him making rumble balls, startling him when I asked for some medicine.

"Sorry, I don't have anything like that." He explained apologetically.

"It's ok, I'll just deal with it." I said, walking out.

Everyone was relaxing on deck, minding their own business. Usopp and Luffy were playing some sort of game while Sanji was fawning over Vivi, Robin and Nami.

"Glad to see you two getting along." I said, walking up to them.

"It amazing how getting to know a person changes how you feel about them." Vivi said, smiling at Robin.

Sanji was glaring at me, seemingly hesitant to leave.

"What, looking for another beat down?" I smirked.

"I'm just not sure it's safe to leave them alone with you." Sanji said, glaring still.

I sighed, understanding but still slightly hurt.

"Sanji, if I started listening to every voice in my head the oceans would run red. Just trust me that I'm in control of myself." I said, frowning slightly.

Sanji looked at me for a moment, then nodded and left.

"So about those voices..." Nami started.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Did they have anything to do with what you said yesterday?"

"Hahaha~ No, that was because of your fondness for short skirts."

"~huff~ Pig."

"Admit it, you're curious as well."

Nami blushed so much it could have been mistaken for makeup.

"So that's how it is, huh? Just another notch?"

"No, you would be the first."

"Could one of you please explain what you're talking about!" Vivi demanded.

"Nothing much, just having some fun at Nami's expense. If it makes you feel any better, you don't actually have to worry about me doing anything like that with you." I said, aiming the last part back at Nami.

"Make a girl feel wanted why don't you." Nami grumbled.

"Oh come on, it was a joke. You're like a sister to me, I'm just having some fun with you." I said, pinching Nami's cheek.

Nami did a little huff and looked away.

"Unless...maybe that's the problem? Does Nami have a crush on little old me?" I teased, smirking.

"Ha~You would like that wouldn't you?" Nami asked, smirking. "Sorry but I'm going to have to disappoint you, maybe Luffy instead."

"Hahahah~Now your getting into it!" I laughed, patting Nami on the back. "Although I wonder...If you think about, technically Luffy doesn't have a set gender anymore."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"It's simple really, since Luffy is made of rubber he has no set body shape." I explained. "He could probably change his voice to."

"There's no way! You can't suddenly make someone a girl, even if they are made of rubber." Vivi exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's not possible." Nami said, shaking her head.

"Is that a fact?" I asked, receiving an adamant nod. "Well how about this, if I can make Luffy into a girl you have to play a game of poker."

"Is that supposed to be threatening?" Nami asked, smirking.

"I'll be playing as well." I said.

The reaction was instantaneous, Nami's eyes shot open and she froze stiff. All the color drained from her face and she gave a small squeak of surprize.

"But if I can't, you get my share of all the treasure we find." I finished.

I swore her eyes turned into Beri signs. She spun around and grabbed Vivi by the shoulders.

"You agree that it's impossible, right?" She asked hysterically.

"Y-yes." Vivi said, shocked. "I don't understand, I thought you enjoyed poker?"

"I do but...he's not normal, it's like magic how good he is!" Nami said, pointing at me.

"I'm just lucky is all." I said, shrugging.

"Luck has nothing to do with it! I'm still not sure you didn't figure out a way to cheat that I hadn't heard of before!" She yelled at me.

"It seems like there's a story behind this." Robin said, smirking.

"Back when I first met Nami, we played a poker game together." I explained, earning myself the worst death-glair I've ever seen Nami give. "Let's just say that she didn't win."

Nami bit her knuckle, looking deep in thought.

"Alright, it's a deal. But you're not allowed to use anything from our room to help you." Nami finally said, hesitantly putting her hand forward.

I reached out and shook it, sealing the deal.

"Hey Luffy!" I shouted, getting his attention. "Follow me, there's something I need to talk to you about."

We walked into the mens quarters and closed the door behind us.

* * *

I was about an hour later that I ran onto the deck.

"Man overboard!" I yelled, getting everyone's attention.

"Where!" Sanji said, suddenly appearing.

I pointed at the body floating in the water barely a meter away from the ship. Sanji jumped in and grabbed it, me and Zoro helping him pull it onto the deck.

"It's a woman!" Sanji said.

"Doesn't matter, just get her to Chopper!" I said, pushing them towards the infirmary.

Chopper came out a couple of minutes later, saying she was ok.

"I don't have any extra clothes though." He said.

"I got some here." I said, handing the garments to him.

He went back in, returning with the girl in tow. She was pretty, short black hair and a soft, round face. I realized too late that the red vest I had given Chopper didn't too much for her modesty, the jeans hugging her curves as well. I looked over and saw that Sanji was having a small nosebleed, hearts in his eyes.

"Do you need anything beautiful, a drink or some food perhaps?" He said, doing his noodle dance.

"No thank you, but I have something for you." She said, her voice sweet like honey.

"What is it?" Sanji asked, getting closer.

"For my hero." She said, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek.

Sanji froze. For a moment he didn't do anything, then all of a sudden he exploded into his noodle dance.

"Thank you for honoring me with you kiss!" He cried, falling to the ground.

No one did anything for a while, then the girl started to giggle. The giggle then turned into a laugh, one which kept getting deeper and deeper.

"Shihihihi~I'm sorry Kendrick, I~hahaha~I couldn't keep it up any more! Sanji was just to ~hahahaha~ funny!" The girl laughed, her voice now awfully familiar to Sanji and the others.

I couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing along with the girl, holding my sides.

"Hahahahah~I~hahaha~I told you it be ~hahaha~ worth it!" I laughed, leaning against the mast for support.

Everyone else look so confused, whenever me and the girl would look at them we'd start laughing again.

"Why are you laughing you shitty old man!" Sanji screamed at me. "What's so funny about this beautiful lady loosing control of her voice."

The girl and I looked at each other, then started laughing again.

"Hahahaha~Did you hear that Luffy, your a~hahaha~a 'beautiful girl'!" I laughed, gasping for air.

"Shihihi~I know! I guess that means you did a good job!" Luffy laughed, turning back to normal.

"LUFFY?!" Everyone shouted.

"But...how...I?" Sanji stuttered out, confused.

"What I tell you Nami? Even Sanji was convinced." I said, smirking.

"But how did you...?" Nami wondered aloud.

"It was easy, all I had to do was convince Luffy it was a good idea." I replied. "Now about that poker game."

"No! Not unless you can do it a second time." Nami said, smirking.

"Ok. Luffy, if you would?" I asked.

Luffy was rolling his pants back into shorts, not hearing us.

"Luffy!" I said louder, getting his attention. "Nami wants you to do it again."

"Ok." He said, taking in a big breath if air.

Luffy's chest popped out again, filling the vest. He became curvy and I assumed his voice was softer now as well.

"So, what do you think. Cool trick right?" Luffy said, his voice more womanly.

"May I present to the crew of the Going Merry, Luffia!" I said, making an extravagant show of presenting her and bowing. "Thank you, thank you. Your stunned silence warms my heart."

Nobody said anything, then I noticed that Sanji was shaking in fury.

"You assholes!" Sanji screamed, rearing back for a kick.

"Sanji, you wouldn't hurt a lady would you?" Luffia asked, looking as adorable and innocent as she could.

Sanji immediately stopped and started his noodle dance again.

"Of course I wouldn't!" He cried.

I walked over to Nami, who was looking defeated.

"I was thinking that we could play tomorrow at lunch, what do you say?" I asked, smirking.

"That...sounds wonderful, can't wait." She said, forcing a smile.

I laughed and walked over to Robin.

"So, what do you think of my work?" I said, indicating Luffia who was taking advantage of Sanji's hospitality.

"It's certainly interesting, how long do you think it can last?" She asked, the seemingly constant small smile she had twitching slightly.

'I wonder if I'll ever get her to really smile?' I thought somberly. "He has to be thinking about doing it to hold it up, so considering how Luffy thinks...Hey Luffy! There's a mermaid of the side of the ship!"

"Really?!" He yelled, reverting to normal and looking over the edge.

"As I thought, if he gets distracted it falls apart." I said, watching as Sanji berated Luffy for the trick.

"Too bad, it could have been a useful disguise." Robin commented.

"Not really, Luffy's not one for disguises. The most it could have been was a distraction." I said. "Hey Robin, I have a question if that's ok."

"What is it?" She replied.

"Why were you on drum island?" I asked.

"I was sent to follow you, you gained our company's interest after what you did in Loguetown." She explained.

"This is the second time I've heard this, what exactly happened there?" I asked.

"You mean you don't remember?"

"I wasn't exactly in control of myself at the time, so no."

"You singlehandedly slaughtered about 12 people, seriously injuring 30 others."

"Well...shit. That sucks."

"That's all you have to say about it? 'That sucks'?"

"It's not like I did it, it was some weirdo that took control of my body. It would be pointless to feel bad for something I couldn't control."

"I suppose your right."

"I'm going to try to get some sleep, I hope you'll join us for the game tomorrow."

I walked off to the bunks and laid down, shutting my eyes.

* * *

I didn't sleep for very long before I couldn't take the pain anymore, my nightmares worse than ever. I stumbled to the deck and wearily walked towards the kitchen.

"Hey Sanji." I mumbled, sitting at the dining table.

I heard a quiet laugh and looked over to see Robin reading a book.

"What's so funny?" I asked, smiling.

"I'm just remembering how nonchalant you were about being stabbed by a tree." Robin said, gesturing towards me with her coffee.

I looked down and realized that I had forgotten to put my shirt back on, the scar I had was plain to see.

"I guess after being decapitated, something mundane like impalement doesn't faze me." I said, shrugging.

"I suppose that could be true. None the less, that's an interesting skill you have there Mr. Monster." Robin said, taking a sip of her coffee.

My smile wavered a bit, I had noticed that she usually calls people by their jobs on the ship instead of their names.

"What'll it take for you to start calling me 'Kendrick'?" I asked, frowning slightly.

"You of all people should know the answer to that." Robin said, raising her eyebrow.

I couldn't help but smile, she had finally done something besides the mask she put up.

"Yeah, I suppose I do."

* * *

Later, at lunch, we were all gathered around a rough poker table Usopp and I had created. Luffy was the dealer, something both Sanji and Nami were adamant about, and Chopper was only watching. He didn't know how to play, so I offered to teach him as we went along. Robin had in fact joined us, making it a seven person game when Vivi declared she wanted to play as well.

It was decided that our own savings were to be used, a fact that would have stopped me from playing if it wasn't for Chopper offering what little he had from Drum Island. Even after I told him about the unpredictable nature of the game he was adamant in saying that he trusted me with it, a fact which made me smile.

We took our places and were dealt our hands, starting the game. We played a few hands before I knocked Ussop out, my strait beating his pair of tens. He had tried to bluff and go all in, not expecting me to call it. It was about five hands later that Zoro was knocked out by Robin, her full hand to his three of a kind. Sanji was the next to go, his straight decimated by Vivi's royal flush. She didn't have long to celebrate, however, when I barely beat her two pair of kings and jacks with my own, an ace kicker tipping it in my favor.

It was down to me, Nami and Robin. We had a back and forth between the three of us for quite a few hands, no one able to gain enough over the others to warrant an unnecessary risk. Eventually Robin was beaten by Nami's straight flush, her own flush not holding up. It was the final showdown between me and Nami, the Beri tipping back and forth between us. Suddenly I heard an explosion behind me, turning to see Sanji and Usopp blackened and burned standing over the remains of whatever Usopp had been constructing.

"Sanji! Watch what you're doing, you could have killed us!" Usopp screamed at the chef.

"I'm sorry, alright. Just calm down." Sanji said, brushing himself off.

I turned back and saw something I thought was impossible, Luffy dealing from the bottom of the deck. I looked up at Nami, her poker face in full effect.

"Now that's just underhanded Nami." I said, frowning at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, is something wrong?" Nami replied, trying to look innocent.

"And you Luffy, you should know better." I said.

Luffy couldn't respond as he was still chewing whatever they had given him.

"Hey, are you accusing Nami of something geezer!" Sanji said.

"No, should I be?" I asked, acting like I had no idea what he was talking about.

Nami glared at Sanji, then turned to me.

"If you want, you could be dealt new cards." She smirked.

"All right, but I want you to deal it." I said, pointing at her.

Nami blinked, then took the deck from Luffy. She took my old ones, shuffled the deck, and dealt new cards to me.

"Aren't you going to look at them?" Nami asked, looking down at my cards.

"No." Was all I said.

Nami looked at her hand, still glancing at my own.

"All in." She said, smirking.

I said nothing, just pushing my pile into hers.

"You should look at your cards before you make a bet." Nami said, giving a nervous smile.

"I'll wait." I said, poker face at the max.

Nami gave a quiet nervous laugh, Luffy dealing out the rest of the cards. As they were flipped, Nami kept looking at my cards. The ones on the table, to the untrained eye, were seemingly useless, but Nami knew more about these kinds of things than any of us (except for maybe Robin).

"Straight flush!" Nami cried excitedly, slamming her card into the table. "What do you say about your so-called luck now, huh?"

I looked at her, all exited to finally beat me, and laughed. I don't know why, but the way see reacted to her seemingly sure victory was hilarious. I reached over the cards and flipped them over, my eyes closed. In the resulting silence, I swore I heard someone scream in rage. Whoever it was sounded like a dick, probably had stupid spiky hair. I opened my eyes and saw that Nami had sunk to her knees, looking defeated.

"That's...not possible." She mumbled out.

I looked down to inspect my hand, smirking at the royal flush I found. Standing, I walked over and patted Nami on the head.

"Don't worry kiddo." I started. "My humiliating victory over you is just water under the shattered bridge of you're crushing defeat."

I looked over at Chopper who was watching the scene in awe.

"Well, aren't you going to take your winnings?" I asked, smiling.

"W-what?" Chopper said, confused.

"I won with your money, it's only fair you take some of it." I said, grabbing one of Nami's rolls of sorted bills.

"You mean I can have all of that?" Chopper asked, amazed at the amount of Beri on the table.

"I sure don't need it all, it yours." I replied, grabbing a bag for him to hold it all in.

I piled all the money into it, placing the now filled bag right in front of him. He started thanking me profusely, my reply only a smile.

"Well that's enough excitement for one day, if you need me I'll be off reading." I said, walking away to find a book.

* * *

I found the modest collection we had accumulated, disheartened to realize I had read all of them.

"Well shucks, I guess they'll be none of that today." I said to myself, briefly thinking of rereading some of them.

"Running out of literature?" I heard a voice ask, turning to find Robin.

"Unfortunately, going to have and pick a few up on the next island." I replied, turning around to face her.

"I have a few I always carry with me incase I'm ever required to wait for something, I could lend you a few if you tell me what you like." Robin said, sitting down in a nearby chair.

"Recently? I've been keenly interested in the supernatural as of late." I said, sitting as well.

"You enjoy ghost stories?" Robin asked, sounding both amused and curious.

"More like spellbooks, eldritch tomes, things of that nature."

"Magic?"

"I have to find a way to die, don't I?"

I swear I saw her eyes widen briefly at that.

"You're looking for a way to die?"

"Of course, I don't want to live forever."

"Why not?"

It was a simple question, but one that contained many implications.

"If I were to live forever, I would have to see everyone I ever love and cherish grow old and die while I remain. It would happen again and again, for eternity. I could conceivably just cut myself off from the rest of the world, watching as it withered away, but that's not how I am."

"So you're looking for a way to die? It can't be that difficult to find."

I smirked, rubbing the scar around my neck.

"I'm guessing you know how I got these scars."

"Yes, I was sent to watch you after all."

"I had believed that my survival at this point was pure luck, but what you told me about the...thing I turned into has connected some of the dots. I've been thinking that what I turned into is some kind of last-ditch survival mechanism, one that I can't control."

"Even if your injuries are healed, you can still die of old age."

"I thought about that, but after what happened on Drum Island I've been feeling...better you could say. Stronger and faster, not including my new understanding of how my teleportation works. The only thing bad has been the nightmares."

"Nightmares?"

"Don't even get me started on them, all you need to know is that is wouldn't wish them on anybody."

"So that's why you've been volunteering to keep watch."

"Yeah."

Nothing was said for a while, we just sat there in silence.

"Unfortunately I don't have anything of that nature, but I'll be sure to keep an eye out." Robin eventually said.

"Thanks Robin." I said, smiling.

I stood up and walked towards the door.

"Hey Robin, if you ever need someone to talk to I'll be here." I said.

"As will I, Mr. Monster." She replied.

I have her one last smile , then left.


	11. Chapter 11

It was on the fifth day of sailing that our food supply became worrisome, Luffy and Usopp had even resorted to using Carue as bait. We passed through a cloud of steam, apparently there was a volcano under the water.

"WE CAUGHT A TRANSVESTITE!" Usopp and Luffy screamed.

I looked over and saw that they weren't just being crazy, some weird-looking guy in ballerina clothes and makeup was holding onto Carue.

"Oh no! How did I get stuck...on this weird giant duck!" He screamed, letting to and falling to the ocean. "Save me, I'm an anchor!"

"Great, another weirdo." I grumbled, diving into the water after him.

I pulled him back onto the ship, surprised at how easy it was.

"Thank you very much, you are swanderfull people." Ballerina-man thanked. "My life has been saved by pirates I don't even know, I will never forget this. Might I have a warm cup of soup?"

"No! We're hungry to!" Zoro, Luffy and Usopp cried.

* * *

"So you can't swim either?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, I ate a devil fruit." Ballerina-man explained.

"Really? What kind?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, well I must wait for my ship to come back anyways." Ballerina-man said. "So I might as well put on a show. This is my power!"

Ballerina-man slammed his palm into Luffy's face, knocking him to the ground.

"Luffy!" I yelled, flickering to Ballerina-man and grabbing him. "What do you think you're doing!"

"Wait, wait, wait! I told you this was my show!" He yelled as I let go of him, his face...

"Stop joking around!" Ballerina-man shouted, now looking exactly like Luffy.

"Huh? It's me!" Luffy exclaimed.

"They're identical!" Someone cried.

"Surprised? ~Gahahaha~ Touch my left hand and it goes back to normal, this is the power of my 'Copy Copy fruit'!" Ballerina-man said, returning to normal.

"The voice..." Nami started.

"Even the physique is the same!" Usopp finished.

"Woah! Cool!" Luffy cried.

"Well, it's actually not necessary to punch you for it to work." Ballerina-man explained, patting all of our faces. "If I just touch your face...with my right hand...I can imitate anyone...just like this!"

He changed as he talked; from Usopp to Zoro, Chopper and finally Nami.

"And your bodies too." Ballerina-man said, opening up his shirt.

"Stop it!" Nami shouted, punching him.

"I'm so sorry, but that's all I can show you-" Ballerina-man started to say.

"You're awesome!" Luffy shouted.

"Do some more!" Usopp encouraged.

"Very well!" Ballerina-man cried.

"He changed his mind"

"I've also got a perfect memory!" He continued. "Every face I've ever touched! I never forget a single one!"

I heard Vivi gasp behind me.

'Did she recognize one?' I thought.

"How do you like my super special talent!" Ballerina-man cried. "I usually never show this to people!"

"Hey you never did Kendrick." Chopper pointed out.

"You're right!" Ballerina-man said, touching my face. "Be amazed!"

He transformed into...nothing. He had no face, no nose or anything.

"Aaahhhh!" Chopper, Usopp and Luffy screamed, scared.

Vivi, Zoro and Nami tensed up as I backed away slightly. A white noise started filling the air, getting louder and louder. I fell to the ground and covered my ears, not realizing I was screaming until by throat became sore. Memories flashed through my mind; all of them bringing a new, terrible pain worse than the last. I lost control of myself and started slamming my head against the ground, trying desperately to make the sounds and memories stop. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and passed out.

* * *

I awoke some time later, once again finding myself in the infirmary. I walked onto deck and found the guys screaming about food, apparently their was some kind of giant sea cat behind the ship. Suddenly, Vivi smacked them all to the ground.

"You can't eat it! In Alabasta Sea Cats are sacred animals." Vivi explained.

Vivi explained that the appearance of a Sea Cat and the calm weather were signs that we were getting close to Alabasta.

"I bet those things behind us are even more proof that we're getting closer to Alabasta." Zoro said out of nowhere.

We turned and saw a number of ships sailing after us.

"Look at all those ships!" Luffy said. "When did they-?!"

"Hey, they all have the Baroque Works signs on them!" Ussop cried.

"All the members are coming together, those are probably the billions." Vivi said. "Servants to the officer agents."

It was then that I noticed a bandage wrapped my left arm. I looked around and saw that everyone else had one as well.

"What are these for?" I asked Nami.

"Zoro came up with it, it's a way for us to be sure that everyone is who we say we are." She explained.

"Why would we need that?" I wondered aloud.

"It turns out that the transvestite from earlier was Mr. 2 of Baroque Works." Zoro said, tightening his bandage.

"Really? Too bad, he was entertaining." I said, tightening my own.

"Even when he caused you to fall unconscious?" Robin said, walking onto the deck.

"You're right, that was less entertaining...did you all get shorter?" I was looking around as I said the last part.

"No, you've been getting taller." Robin replied.

And she was right; before I was only a couple of inches taller than her, but now I was at least a whole head. This meant that I was now towering over most of the others.

"Jeez, what's going on with me?" I asked no one in particular.

"That's what I want to know, why did you suddenly freak out earlier?" Nam asked.

"I...don't know, not yet." I started. "I've been remembering more and more lately, but none of it makes any sense. Whatever happened with Mr. 2 brought back more memories, but I couldn't handle it. I think I'm getting close though, to remembering whatever it is I forgotten. It's just..."

"What?" Sanji asked.

"It's just that with what I've seen so far, I don't think I want to remember." I finished.

Nobody said anything for a moment, then Chopper stepped forward.

"Well whatever happens, we'll still be friends right?" Chopper said. "So the past shouldn't matter."

I smiled and let out a small laugh. I bent down and picked up Chopper, holding him in front of me. He gave a little yelp of surprise.

"You're right chopper, thanks." I said, setting him on my shoulders.

Chopper marveled at how high he was as Luffy stepped forward.

"All right! Whatever happens from now on, this left arm is proof of friendship!" Luffy declared. "Now, let's get to dry land."

* * *

We found ourselves in Nanohana, Luffy gone to try to find a restaurant.

"What should we do? Nanohana is a large town." Vivi said. "It would be very hard to find Luffy here."

"Don't worry Vivi, we'll just look for the noisiest spot in town." Sanji replied. "He'll be there."

"Hahaha~ You got that right." Usopp laughed.

"Anyways, I wish he would pay more heed to the bounty on his head. Especially in a country like this one." Nami complained.

"Just let him take care of himself." Zoro said. "Let's go eat. We can think things through after that."

"Wait!" I said, getting their attention. "I just thought of something."

I turned to Robin.

"Crocodile doesn't know that you're with us, right?." I asked.

"He shouldn't yet, why?" Robin replied.

"I just realized something. He doesn't tell any of the other agents his plans, right? He only gives them missions." I started to explain. "What if there are parts of the plan he didn't even tell you yet? If you go back to him now, you could spy on him for us and tell us the entirety if his grand plan."

Robin seemed to think about this for a moment.

"I suppose this could be true." She said, sounding hesitant.

"You don't have to if you don't want, I understand. It was only an idea, I'm probably wrong." I said, touching her shoulder.

Robin thought for a few moments, then sighed.

"No you're likely to be right, it's a good thing you thought of that. I know of a quick way to get to Crocodiles base, Raindinners." Robin said, turning away.

"Robin." I said, getting her attention. "If...just be careful, please."

Robin smiled and walked off.

* * *

"Look!" Vivi shouted. "It's Mr. 3's ship!"

"You mean he's not dead?" Usopp exclaimed.

"He must be in the kingdom." Vivi replied.

I frowned, unconsciously grabbing my arm as I thought of the last time we met. Zoro must have noticed, and grabbed my shoulder.

"Come on, let's go." He said. "We need to get ready."

* * *

"It's gorgeous! I really like it!" Nami exclaimed, inspecting the outfit Sanji had got her.

"I hate to complain, when you asked us to wear these, but..." Vivi said. "Sanji, these make us look more like dancers than normal citizens."

We had gotten supplies for our journey across the desert, and Sanji took it upon himself to find outfits for the girls. What he got were outfits that were...interesting to say the least.

"That's ok, dancers are citizens!" Sanji swooned. "It's ok as long as no one figures out you're a princess and a pirate, right?"

"But walking through the desert will be a little..." Vivi tried to counter.

"If you get tired, I'll carry you!" Sanji defended, absolutely gushing over their clothes.

While Nami and Vivi were all dressed up, the rest of us had simple cloaks. Mine was more ragged looking, it had to be made from scraps as no one had anything big enough to fit me. I then noticed that Chopper was looking awfully sick.

"Chopper, whats wrong?" I asked, worried.

"My nose is going to fall off!" He exclaimed, rolling on the ground.

"Your nose must me sensitive, Nanohana is famous for its perfume." Vivi guessed.

"Perfume?"

"There are extremely powerful ingredients in it." Vivi explained.

"Like this?" Nami asked, spraying some perfume.

"Aaahhhh! Stop it, stop it!" Chopper cried, covering his nose.

"Nami, knock it off!" I growled, grabbing the perfume from her. "Here Chopper, this'll help."

I ripped a piece of the my cloak off, getting it wet and wrapping it around Choppers nose.

"Thank you Kendrick." He said, voice muffled slightly.

"You're welcome." I replied. "Can't have the worlds greatest doctor performing at anything less than perfect, can we?"

"You think that kind of thing makes me happy, moron?" Chopper cried, doing his happy-dance.

"Maybe just a little." I said, smirking at him.

* * *

"Well, I've collected the materials needed to make a trip across the Alabastan Desert." Vivi said.

"We need to go to Yuba right?" I asked. "That's where the rebellion is."

"Y-yes, how did you know?" Vivi wondered, surprized.

"Robin knew, so I do as well." I replied, shrugging.

"That's right, I forgot." Vivi said. "Well you're right, I want to stop the rebellion first and foremost."

"I have a feeling it won't be that simple and clean, but it's as good a plan as any." I said, frowning. "_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight._"

I froze and started coughing, surprised. I sang that last part out of nowhere, not even planning to. Memories flashed through mind, still nothing but nonsense and pain. I somehow felt better though, slightly.

"What was that?" Usopp asked, just as surprised as me.

"I have no idea." I replied, my voice sounding strange. "_But When you walk away, you don't hear me say-_"

I coughed some more, as if the song was stuck in my throat.

"Why are you singing?" Zoro asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've got no idea! I don't know what came over me." I said, my voice different again. "And what's going on with my voice?"

It sounded similar to how they were saying I talked when I was drunk, only with a better grasp of proper English. It sounded familiar, very familiar. I tried to put a name with it but I was only coming up with 'Sean Connery', whoever that is.

"Ok, we'll deal with this later. We should find Luffy and get going, we probably don't have much time left." I said, sounding even older now.

As I said that, we heard the sounds of someone being chased getting closer and closer.

"Marines, why are they here?" Zoro wondered aloud.

"Sheesh, what a ruckus." Sanji said. "Did they find a pirate or something?"

It was then that we saw Luffy, being chased my what must have been every Marine in the area. I face-palmed and sighed, not that surprised. Even less so when Luffy accidentally brought us to the attention of the Marines.

"Hey! Zoro!" He yelled, still running.

"Great job Luffy." I grumbled. "You guys get out of here, I'll follow Luffy and make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble."

I started running and teleported to catch up with the dark-haired rubber-boy.

"Having fun are we?" I said, trying to keep up with him.

"Hey Kendrick! What happened to your voice?" He asked, noticing the change.

"A mystery thing. Now come on, we need to lose these Marines." I replied, going faster.

I heard someone yell what sounded like an attack behind us, turning to see a particularly tough looking Marine send a fist attached to a plume of smoke after us. Before it hit us, however, a blast of fire intercepted the attack. Me and Luffy stopped to see who had saved us, seeing a face that surprised us both.

A kid not much older than Luffy was standing between us and the Marine with the devil fruit. Said boy turned to look at us, a smirk growing on his face. The boy had on a cowboy hat and shorts, shirtless. This allowed us the see the large tattoo on his back.

"Ace?"


	12. Chapter 12

"You haven't changed at all, Luffy." Ace said, still smirking. "Well we can't talk like this, you guys gun and I'll catch up with you."

"Thanks Ace. Common Luffy, let's help the others." I thanked, grabbing Luffy and running.

We quickly caught up with the rest of the crew, grabbing some supplies and running to the ship.

"Get on the ship! Are we leaving the island?" Usopp asked.

"No. We're going up the river on the ship, then into the desert." Vivi explained. "We only came to Nanohana to get crucial supplies."

"I hear the Marines coming, I'll raise the anchor."'I said, teleporting to the ship.

I pulled up the anchor and helped the others to get on as we drifted off. I had to teleport to pick up Vivi, she spent too long sending Carue on his mission. I turned to look at Luffy, who was even more excited than usual.

"Excited to see Ace again?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yea! He even has a Devil Fruit now, it so cool!" Luffy exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Who's Ace?" Usopp asked.

"He's Luffy's brother." I explained, much to the shock of the crew.

"Brother!" They all shouted.

"Yep, he's a pirate too. He's looking for the One Piece." Luffy explained. "He's three years older than me, so he left three years earlier."

"He must have gotten his Devil Fruit sometime after he left, he sure didn't have it before that." I remarked.

"Yeah, I couldn't even beat him then." Luffy said. "He's really strong."

"Not even once, against a regular human?" Nami asked, surprised.

"The monster's brother must be one hell of a monster." Usopp stated.

"Yeah, I always got my ass kicked!" Luffy laughed. "But I'm sure I could beat him now!"

"That's a groundless statement." Sanji declared.

"Not entirely, you forgot one thing." I said, smirking.

"What's that?" Sanji asked

"Luffy's going to be the King of the Pirates." I replied, turning to Luffy. "Isn't that right captain?"

"Yep, I'm going to find the One Piece!" Luffy said, smiling.

"Whose going to find the One Piece?" A voice from behind us asked.

We turned to find Ace balancing on the ships railing.

"Ace!" They said.

"Yo." He replied. "Hey everyone, thanks for taking care of my brother."

"No problem Ace, we owe him that much." I replied.

Ace turned to me, looking at me suspiciously.

"Earlier, you seemed to know who I was already. Do I know you?" He asked.

"No, but I know a lot about you." I said.

"How?"

"It's a mystery thing, but I suppose you could say it's as if Luffy told me everything about his past in excruciating detail."

"Luffy told you?"

"No."

"But you just said-"

"I said it's as if he told me. It's a mystery thing, remember? He didn't actually tell me anything."

"Oh...ok."

"I know it's confusing, I don't quite understand it myself. Anyway, would it be ok if I test something real quick?"

"I guess?"

"Good. Fist of Love!"

"!"

I shouted that last part, rushing forward to punch Ace right in his face. Instead, my hand passed right through him.

"Damn, that's not it." I grumbled, shaking my hand to try to disperse the heat.

"What was that for!" Ace demanded, angry.

"Kendrick, why did you attack Ace?" Luffy asked, sounding upset as well.

"Did you forget already? 'Fist of Love', the one punch that hurt you." I said. "I was trying to figure out how it works."

"Why would you do that?" Luffy asked, calmed down now. "And isn't it just a really strong punch?"

"I don't think so. Punches don't hurt you since you're made of rubber, but those did." I said. "I was thinking that maybe it disregards Devil Fruit powers somehow. If we figure out how it works, then it would be that much easier to defeat Crocodile."

"What's this 'Fist of Love', and how can it help us beat Crocodile?" Vivi asked.

I looked over to Luffy, eyebrow raised. He simply shrugged as if to say 'it no big deal'.

"It's something Luffy's grandpa used to do to him, it would hurt him as if he didn't have rubber powers." I explained. "If we knew how it worked, we would be able to actually touch Crocodile."

"Wait, are you saying that without it we wouldn't be able to hurt him?" Sanji asked.

"Er...yeah. Didn't Robin tell you guys?" I wondered, confused.

"No!" They all replied.

"Oh...well basically Crocodile's Devil Fruit gives him control over sand, making it so he can't be hit." I started to explain.

"Just like Smokey!" Luffy interrupted.

"If you mean the Marine from earlier, then yes." I continued. "Those kinds of powers make people untouchable."

"So not only is he one of the Seven Warlords, he's also invincible!" Nami exclaimed, sounding very worried.

"No, he's not invincible. Because his powers are based in sand, he is especially susceptible to water; any amount means that he has to stay solid, and that's when we attack." I finished explaining. "But it would be wise to have a substantial amount of water; his abilities allow him to drain the moisture out of anything."

"We only brought enough water to make it through the desert!" Usopp exclaimed. "Even if we make it, there probably wouldn't be enough to fight Crocodile with."

"What do we do?" Chopper said, sounding scared.

"That's for Luffy do decide." Zoro said.

We all turned to look at the captain, who was thinking.

"We still need to make it past the desert, nothing's changed about that." He declared, using his 'Captain Voice'. "When we do that, we'll restock on water and go after Crocodile."

"His base at Raindinners has lots of water, we could use it against him." I said, putting in my two cents.

Luffy nodded.

"Everyone got that? We go along as planned, the only thing different is that we know Crocodile's weakness now." Luffy ordered. "Are we all ready to go?"

"Right behind you captain!" I declared, everyone making some form of agreement.

"Maybe you have changed a bit, Luffy." Ace said quietly, only I hearing him. "Anyways, I'm glad I saw you. I'm here for a silly little task, I figured I'd come and meet up with you."

Ace suddenly looked very serious.

"Luffy, will you come join the Whitebeard pirate crew?" Ace asked. "With your friends too of course."

"No way." Luffy replied bluntly.

"Ahahaha~ Just thought I'd ask." Ace laughed.

"Whitebeard, so that mark on your back is real?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, it's my pride and joy. Whitebeard is the greatest pirate I've ever known." Ace replied. "I want to make him the Pirate King, not you Luffy."

"That's ok, I'll just fight him." Luffy stated like an absolute fact.

Ace grinned.

"Here, I wanted to give this to you." He said, throwing Luffy a piece of paper. "Always keep that with you."

"It's a piece of paper." Luffy declared, folding and unfolding the paper.

"Yep, that paper will let us meet again."

"Wow..."

"Don't want it?"

"No, I do!"

I had to smile at the simplicity of the family reunion. One moment Luffy was planing to topple criminal empires, next he was talking to his brother like it hasn't been years since they've seen each other.

"Having a dumb little brother makes an older brother worry." Ace declared. "He probably gives you guys lots of trouble too, please take care of him for me."

Ace jumped from the Merry to a small boat floating next to the ship.

"What! Your leaving already?" Luffy cried.

"Yeah. I'm chasing a major criminal, he's taken to calling himself 'Blackbeard'. But he used to be a member of Whitebeard Second Corps, my subordinate. He committed the worst possible crime on a ship; he killed a fellow crew mate." Ace replied. "I'm the commander so it's my duty to bring him in, it's the only reason I'm here at all. The next time we meet, will be at the pirates summit."

I laughed at the others reaction to Ace, they were all amazed at how well-mannered and...not-Luffy he was. Luffy yelled goodbye to Ace, who was heading straight for the blockade of Marines that suddenly appeared. It took only a moment for Ace to decimate the ships with a huge blast of fire, the burning remains falling around him.

"Well that was flashy." I said, turning to the now stunned crew. "Ace sure grew up, right Luffy?"

"Yeah, he wasn't nearly as nice back on the island." Luffy agreed, smiling.

"Here, give me that paper and your hat." I said, reaching my hand out.

"Why?" Luffy asked, giving them to me anyway.

"I'm going to sew the card to the hat so you don't lose it." I replied, walking to get a needle and thread.

"Thanks Kendrick." Luffy said when I returned his hat.

"No problem, now..." I replied, turning to the others again and giving a thumbs up. "Let get to Yuba!"

* * *

"We Made it! Yuba!" Luffy shouted.

I sighed at his cluelessness.

"No Luffy, this isn't Yuba." I said, claiming him down. "We still have to make it across the desert."

"Oh, so where are we?" He asked, confused.

"This is Elumalu, 'Green Town'." Vivi explained.

"But there's nothing green here." Luffy replied.

He was right, there seemed to be nothing here at all anymore. The town seemed to be only ruins buried in the sands now. The place felt...off somehow, something had must have happened here. I looked around a snickered at how disappointed Sanji looked; Vivi and Nami had put on cloaks over their outfits so they would

"Woah, what the hell is that! A turtle?" Usopp suddenly screamed, making us look back to the ship.

A small animal that looked like the cross between a seal and a turtle was standing on the edge of the bank, right in front of the ship.

"A Kung-Fu Dugong!" Vivi cried. "Usopp, get away from it! They're...strong."

Vivi's warning was too late however, Usopp was beaten by the creature in a mere moment. I teleported over and kicked the Dugong back into the river.

"Don't hurt my family!" I shouted at it, causing it to cower.

I bent down and helped Usopp to stand.

"You ok?" I asked.

"I'm fine, thanks." He replied, walking away.

"Don't best them either!" Vivi yelled. "It's a Kung-Fu Dugong law that the loser must become the winners student!"

"No, you have to stand like this." I instructed the crowd of Dugongs that surrounded me, not paying attention to Vivi.

"HOW DID YOU GET SO MANY!" She screamed.

"I dunno, maybe I'm just that great of a leader?" I replied shrugging. "So, are we ready to go?"

"Yes, but the Dugongs have to stay here." Vivi answered. "They wouldn't survive the journey."

I turned to my new students and got their attention, they fell into line quickly.

"Listen up, I have a mission for you!" I said, trying to sound authoritative. "The others and I must cross the desert, and we are relying on you to defend our ship. Can you do this?!"

They all saluted and shouted in confirmation, some of them crying slightly at my sudden departure.

"Well. I leave the Going Merry to you then. Take good care of her." I ordered, turning to the others.

They all looked surprised.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing it's just...you can be very commanding when you want to." Nami said.

I looked back to see the Dugongs patrolling the ship, one looked over at me and waved sadly.

"I suppose I can." I said quietly.

I didn't move for a while, I was trying to remember something. It was right on the cusp of coming to the forefront when someone grabbed my shoulder.

"What!" I growled.

"Woah, calm down!" Nami exclaimed. "I was just telling you we need to go."

"I'm sorry." I sighed. "I was just close to remembering something."

Nami nodded and we walked to Elumalu.

* * *

"So what happened to this place?" Zoro asked, looking around the remains of the town.

"Until recently, this town was a lively place full of green plants. However, in the past three years not a single drop of rain has fallen in the entire country. Even in Alabasta, no rainfall has never been something to worry about." Vivi replied. "But there was one place that got more rain than anything; the capital of Alubarna, the city built around the palace. The people called it the 'Kings Miracle', at least until...that day."

Vivi told us about what happened two years ago; a large shipment of dance powder was found going to the king's palace. Apparently dance powder was something that was invented to create artificial rain, it would cause clouds to swell prematurely. It was outlawed, however, when it was discovered that it caused droughts in places that were downwind. There had been no rain for a year already, so the appearance of dance powder caused some people to suspect the king as the cause. This eventually led to the revolution as it is now.

"Now I realize that Crocodiles terrible plan was already in effect." Vivi continued. "A rebellion rose, just as he planned. Towns dried up, people starved, and an army of furious rebels started a bloody battle with an innocent country!"

My fist started to clench and unclench unconsciously, my anger boiling over slowly as Vivi sank to the ground.

"The kingdom's peace, the trust in the royal family, the rain!" Vivi said quietly, crying. "The towns, even people's lives! It was all stolen, and it was done by one man; CROCODILE!"

Vivi was screaming now, still crying. Flashes of memories came forward; a different girl, crying for different reasons.

"Don't go master! Please, take me with you!" Cried the girl, her tears hidden behind the mask she wore.

"WHAT RIGHT DOES HE HAVE TO DO THESE THINGS!" Both Vivi and the other girl screamed at the same time. "I WILL NEVER, EVER, LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

I roared and launched myself at the nearest bit of ruin. Without thinking I completely demolished it, not stopping my rampage until two more buildings were destroyed as well. I turned to the others and saw that they looked scared, some more than others.

"Luffy." I said angrily. "Let's get going, Crocodile needs to pay."

Luffy nodded and caught up with me, the others following quickly behind him.

"Lets move forward already, I'm anxious now." Luffy said.

* * *

"Aaahh" Luffy sighed.

"Luffy, if you keep going 'Aaahh' then you're just going to waste your energy." I said, getting slightly annoyed. "You don't see me complaining, do you?"

"Not yet, but we should have gone back for another cloak." Vivi scolded me. "Or at least a shirt, it's not safe to walk around the desert like this!"

The 'this' Vivi was referring to was the fact that both my cloak and shirt were gone, in my rage they were torn beyond repair.

"Watch where you're putting those!" Usopp grumbled, picking himself off the ground.

The tentacles that had apparently exploded from my back certainly didn't help either. They were an inky black and didn't seem to do anything besides get in the way, occasionally twitching, and were to light to be used a weapons, so I couldn't guess what they were supposed to be used for. One thing I can say for certain was that I didn't like the way Sanji was eyeing them.

"Sanji, I'm not calamari. Stop staring." I said, not looking back at him.

"How could you tell?" He asked, surprised.

"You were planning the meal so hard I could smell it." I joked.

"As if I'd cook anything that came from you." He grumbled.

"Good, don't want you taking my position as resident monster." I laughed.

"I can't stand the heat...but I'm fine in the cold." Chopper struggled to get out.

The poor kid wasn't made for the heat, his fur made him more suited for cold places like Drum Island. We had him on a small pallet I was dragging so he could conserve his energy.

"It because you're all fuzzy, why don't you take that costume off." Usopp said.

"Don't mess with a reindeer, punk!" Chopper yelled, transforming into his 'Muscle Point' as he called it.

"Chopper, change back. You need to conserve your energy if you want to make it." I ordered. "And Vivi, if we went back we'd only be wasting time. I'm fine, I don't even feel that hot."

It was true, I didn't feel any different from how I usually did. As I thought about it more, I realized that I never felt any different anywhere we went. Even on Drum Island I didn't feel that cold, but I had just chalked it up to the coat I had. But now, I wasn't so sure.

"Even if you don't feel hot now, you'll defiantly feel it later if you get any sunburns." Vivi countered. "And when it gets dark, it becomes almost freezing!"

"Vivi, I appreciate the worry, I really do, but nothing can slow us down. You said it yourself, we need to make it to Yuba quickly." I said, trying to placate her. "If I can survive decapitation, it being cold out won't faze me at all. _So don't worry, be happy."_

I coughed, I had started singing again. Then I thought, why not? The only thing it could hurt was my image as a horrible monster, something I wasn't to worried about.

_"Here's a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note. Don't worry, be happy."_ I sang, surprising the others. _"In every life we have some trouble, when you worry you make it double. Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy now!"_

By this point the others were starting to enjoy it, a welcome distraction from our arduous journey. Usopp, Luffy and even Chopper had tried to join in, their earlier complaints forgotten in the wake of the unfamiliar song I came up with.

_"Ain't got no place to lay your head, somebody came and took your bed. Don't worry, be happy."_ I continued. _"The landlord say your rent is late, he may have to litigate. Don't worry, be happy! Look at me, I'm happy!"_

I picked up Chopper and twirled him around, both of us laughing even when we fell to the ground. I put Chopper back on his pallet and continued to pull him, everyone feeling a little better now because of my impromptu musical number.

* * *

"Heavy...hot." Luffy complained.

"You lost the game, so shut up and pull." Zoro said.

"Don't drop anything Luffy!" Nami added.

We agreed to take a break at the next rock we found, and Luffy was roped into carrying everything until then.

"Alright! Rocks sighted dead ahead!" Usopp declared.

"Really!" Luffy shouted. "Break time!"

Luffy shot off towards the rocks like a bullet, zooming past us. It wasn't long until he came rushing back.

"There's a bunch if birds back there!" He yelled. "Come on Chopper, heal them!"

"O...ok, I'm coming." Chopper said.

"Birds!" Vivi exclaimed. "Wait, Luffy! Those birds are..!"

* * *

"All of our stuff is gone!" Everyone screamed.

"Oh no." Vivi muttered. "Warusagi are called the 'Thieves of the Desert'. They trick people and steal their luggage, I should have told you sooner."

"That was supplies for three days, Luffy!" Sanji shouted at the rubber-boy, grabbing him. "How could you let a bunch of birds steal it!"

"Sanji, let him go." I interrupted, stepping between the two. "He couldn't have known. There's nothing we...can do...?"

I trailed off when I saw the birds out of the corner of my eye, drinking our water. I had no idea why they stuck around, but it seemed to be so they could mock us if the smug looks on their faces were any indication.

I teleported over and kicked one in the head, knocking it out. By the time they recovered from their surprise, I incapacitated three others. The Warusagi flew off as fast as they could, but I teleported behind them and reached forward to grab one, only to have the tentacles on my back shot forward and wrap around all of them. I was so surprised that I didn't think to teleport safely to the others, letting myself fall to the desert. Before I hit the ground, however, more tentacles came out of my back. These were stiffer and firmer, like tree branches, and jabbed themselves into the ground. This kept me suspended in the air long enough for me to come to my senses. I looked down at the others, who were just as surprised as me, and waved awkwardly.

"How's the weather down there?" I joked, laughing nervously.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my extra limbs. It was...strange to say the least, I wasn't used to them and how they felt. I tried making them move, but this resulted in me falling to the ground when I lost by whole situation reminded me of a child learning to walk for the first time.

Not to be beaten by my own appendages, I tried using them to stand back up. It took a couple of attempts, but I was back in the air atop my extra...arms? Legs? Whatever they were. I tentatively tried to move forward, and shot a limb forward to catch myself when I fell again. I kept trying, eventually making it back to the others who were staring at me, gawking. I lowered myself to the ground and retracted all my extra parts, except for the ones that were holding the Warusagi.

"So...I can do that now." I said, feeling awkward.

No one said anything, then Luffy and Choppers eyes lit up with stars.

"That was so cool!" They shouted in unison.

I couldn't help but grin at the praise.

"You two never fail to be amazed." I laughed. "Thanks guys."

It was then that we heard the sound of something huge getting closer and closer to us. We a turned and saw a camel being chased toward us by what appeared to be a giant lizard of some sort.

"A Giant Sandora Lizard!" Vivi shouted.

"It's huge!" Cried Chopper and Usopp.

"I suppose we should save that camel." Sanji said.

"Let me, I want to test what I can do." I said, walking away from them.

"Are you crazy!" Nami screamed at me. "Do you see how big that thing is?"

"Yes, and yes." I replied, teleporting away and leaving behind the now unconscious Warusagi.

I appeared in the air before the lizard's head. I concentrated and willed more tentacles to appear, some to hold me in the air and the rest to wrap around the lizard. I kept sending more and more, determined to subdue the creature. I started to feel tired and hungry, as if I haven't eaten in days, and pushed myself harder. Eventually I had engulfed the monster, and with a loud _~Crack~_ I broke its spine in three places.

As soon as I did I collapsed to the ground, curled up in pain. I felt like I had been starved for weeks, I had barely enough energy to crawl my way to the paralyzed beast in front of me. Without much thought I quickly tore into the lizard, consuming as much as I could as fast as I could. The hunger went away, but I didn't stop. The lizard was seemingly trying to get away, but couldn't manage since it was only able to twitch its mouth and eyes.

Slowly, the creature died and I stopped feeding. As it's life drained away, it started to taste worse and worse to the point that I was almost sick when I took my final bite. I looked around and saw Luffy and the others staring with mixed reactions of shock and nausea, I was covered in blood and surrounded by whatever bits escaped my grasp. I looked at my hands, the red liquid oozing its way down my arms and chest. My tentacles didn't look better, their usual black now stained red and other effluvial colors, they twitched every which way in a manner that was akin to the wild thrashings of a madman.

I looked like something out of a nightmare, more appropriate in tales of a boogeyman than the desert we found ourselves in. I looked up at the others, my heart pained to see Chopper so scared of me. Suddenly I saw more faces; thousands of people who were all terrified of one thing. Me.

"That...didn't go as planned." I said, rising from my knees.

I teleported closer, leaving behind the blood.

Usopp and Chopper flinched and backed up slightly, Chopper more so when I reached for him. I was going to reassure him that everything was okay, but I froze when I saw how terrified he was.

"Chopper...I..." I quietly tried to explain, not thinking of anything. "I'm...I'm going to get some sleep."

I walked back to the rocks we had found, laying down to rest.

* * *

Everything started off as usual, I was on the field and bodies were everywhere. The only difference was that Nami was among the crew instead of atop the pile next to Robin. The creature appeared again, but instead of rushing forward to attack he teleported over, appearing right in front of me.

"We apologize. Our tactics have proven unsuccessful, making everything we have done pointless." The creature said, it voice sounding...echoey, it sounded like it was speaking from multiple places at the same time. "We were so close to having the answers, it did not matter that they weren't the ones we seek."

"So now you want to talk." I grumbled, stepping back. "So that's all you have to say for haunting me all this time? I'm sorry?"

"We also have a gift, one that will help you greatly." The creature said. "We are taking a great risk here, nothing like this has ever been done before to our knowledge. If you don't remember our name, then all is lost."

"What is it?" I tentatively asked. "And what's your name?"

Instead of answering, the creature surged forward and grabbed me with its tentacles. I was surprised and didn't have time to react before the creature leaned forward and...kissed me? I didn't know what it was doing, but it seemed to be trying to kiss me. The creature was pressing our faces together in that fashion, but it didn't have any lips so I didn't know. The creature started to fade away slowly, and the fainter it got the more I started to understand. My powers started to make sense, it was like someone explaining how to use a tool you've and you realize you've been doing it wrong the whole time.

I started to panic when the creature was gone completely and the knowledge didn't stop, it just kept coming and coming. It gave answers to questions I never asked and created questions for answers I already knew, at least I thought I did. Eventually it stopped, leaving me with even more questions than before and with little in the way of answers. One question was at the forefront of my mind, however, and nagged me to no end. What was my name?

* * *

I awoke and found myself laying in a fairly comfortable bed. Usopp was saying something about hard work, which somehow developed into a pillow fight.

"And this jerk didn't even help carry anything!" Sanji yelled, pelting my face with a pillow.

I growled, then got an idea. A devious idea. An awful idea. A cruel idea. An awfully, deviously cruel idea.

"Sanji." I said, sounding as weepy and sad as I could from behind the pillow. "That hurt, why did you hit me?"

"Jeez, calm down. It was only a pillow." Sanji replied.

I sat up, all wrapped up in my blanket, and pulled the pillow down slowly. When it was gone, the whole room was silent except for the sounds of everyone's jaw hitting the floor. Hidden behind the pillow was a pretty girl with long, blonde hair and a bruise under her eye.

"But Sanji." I cried. "You threw it really hard!"

The room became dead silent except for the sound of everyone's jaws hitting the floor. Sanji slowly looked from me, to his hands, then back to me again.

"I'm so sorry!" Sanji cried, his tears flying everywhere. "I'm a monster for hurting such a beautiful woman!"

I blushed and stood up, still wrapped in the blanket. I walked over to Usopp and bent over to be level with him.

"Do you think I'm beautiful?" I asked, absolutely gushing with innocence.

"I…I…You." Usopp stuttered, blushing profusely.

I giggled and walked over to Chopper, picking him up from inside my blanket.

"What about you Chopper?" I asked.

"You look pretty." He replied.

"Thank you Chopper, you're adorable yourself." I said, kissing his nose.

I put down the now blushing Chopper and walked over to Vivi. I stepped close and pressed our foreheads together, causing Nami to blush in surprise.

"What do you think Vivi?" I asked, letting the blanket finally fall away.

I swear I could hear shattering as my bare, hairy chest was revealed.


	13. Chapter 13

If someone was to walk into the room at that moment, here's what they would see.

A kid with green hair and three swords, a child-sized blue-nosed reindeer that walks like a human, a skinny lad with a long nose and a thick head of extremely fuzzy hair that's wearing overalls and a hair-net, a boy with blond hair covering an eye and super curly eyebrows wearing a suit, and a bright-blue-haired girl in a dancers outfit.

All five were gaping at the most interesting of them; a very pretty girl from the neck up, a hairy bodybuilder from the shoulders down. The image was further complicated by the persons hands and feet, which were as lady-like as their head. The changes seemed to be natural, as if a man with a girls hands, feet and head were common everywhere. Individual parts didn't seem to clash, you only realized what was wrong when you took in the image as a whole. It only got worse when it talked.

"Hahahaha~ Is something wrong?" I said, my voice that of an old man with an accent (I didn't know it at the time, but later discovered that I sounded exactly like Sean Connery).

Needless to say, Nami was very surprised when she walked into the room at that moment.

"Who's this?" Nami asked, quickly looking me over. "And what's wrong with them!"

I turned back, surprising everyone again, and laughed.

"Plenty, but nothing that matters now." I said, walking back to my bed and laying down. "If you don't mind I'm going to get some sleep."

* * *

It wasn't until morning that everyone processed what happened.

"Kendrick, explain what happened last night!" Nami demanded.

I sighed.

"After what happened with the giant lizard, some things were…made clear you could say." I explained. "I remember what I am now."

Everyone's eyes widened slightly, except for Luffy.

"You remember!" Vivi said. "That's great!"

"No, I still don't know who I am." I replied.

"But you said…" Luffy started.

"I said I remember what I am, not who I am." I clarified. "I don't even know my name."

"It's Kendrick, isn't it?" Chopper asked, confused.

"No, it's not." I said quietly. "That was his name."

"Whose name?" Usopp asked.

"The other one, Kendrick." I explained, surprising the others. "That's his name."

"Stop talking crazy, you're Kendrick." Sanji said, putting his hand on my forehead. "Did the heat get to you?"

"Sanji, if you don't remove your hand from my person you'll be quickly acquainted with starvation." I threatened, shocking him so much that he jumped away without thinking.

"Kendrick!" Vivi cried, shocked as well.

"I'm sorry, its just…I don't feel too comfortable being touched right now." I said, starting to shake slightly.

"And why is that?" Zoro asked.

"Because I'm trying very hard to not have a panic attack." I replied, still shaking.

"A panic attack!" Chopper cried. "Kendrick, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that everyone needs to calm down!" I screamed, only making things worse. "Just…please calm down. I can't take this much at once yet."

"This much what?" Nami asked.

"Emotion." I replied. "I can sense your emotions, practically smell them."

"Really." Usopp said. "What else can you do?"

"Only a little more than what you've already seen." I started, calming down as everyone relaxed. "I can teleport, grow appendages and become taller. I am also a great illusionist and an empath, along with other physic abilities including mind control. Also, for whatever reason, I have a connection with the spirit world."

"What do you mean the spirit world?" Vivi asked.

"It would be easier if I show you, everyone wait a moment." I said, stopping to focus.

I blocked out everything, leaving nothing but me and an endless void. I had never done this before (at least to my recollection) but I understood the gist of how it was supposed to work. A line went from me and seemed to stretch on forever, even with my teleportation it took me minutes to reach the end. At the end of the line was a glowing orb, it seemed to jerk and spasm randomly. I tentatively reached my hand forward and touched it, surprised when many arms shot out and grabbed my own. They started pulling and I focused some more, trying not to be sucked in all the while. Eventually I found what I was looking for and pulled back, falling down and finding myself in the sand again.

I looked around and saw everyone staring at me, Luffy looking the most surprised out of all of them.

"I suppose this means it worked." I said, my voice sounding different.

I looked down and found that I looked exactly like that bandit leader that had almost killed Luffy.

"Someone has something to say to you, Luffy." I said, mentally stepping back.

My body fell to the ground and started twitching violently, making all sorts of strange noises. After a moment it stopped and shot up, gasping for air.

"Wh-Where am I?" The bandit asked, looking around.

Eventually his eyes found the others, Luffy specifically, and he screamed in terror.

"No! I'm sorry, I learned my lesson." He shouted hysterically. "Please, I didn't mean it!"

"Psst~ Buddy, maybe if you apologize it would work better." I whispered to him from inside "his own head".

"That's a good idea." He replied aloud, not fazed by mysterious voices apparently.

He quickly kneeled before Luffy and started to cry.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me!" The bandit begged. "I'll do anything, please!"

Luffy didn't do anything for a moment, surprised.

"Ah…Ok, I forgive you." He finally said.

"Y-You do?" The bandit asked, receiving a nod of agreement. "Thank you!"

The bandits joy quickly returned to terror as he realized I was sending him back.

"No! He forgave me!" He cried, scaring the others. "Why do I have to go back? He forgave me!"

"That doesn't mean I do." I replied, forcing him back screaming.

I wearily stood, the process draining me substantially. I looked up at the others a tried to grin, coming out lopsided.

"So yeah, spirit world." I said shakily. "But I have no idea why, the only reason I can think if is that I keep dying and coming back. If only I could remember."

Luffy suddenly perked up, as if he realized something.

"Would you kindly remember." Luffy said, causing me to freeze.

"Luffy!" Vivi cried. "I thought we agreed to never do that again."

"I though that I might help him remember." Luffy defended.

"That would only work if he chose to forget." Zoro countered. "And we all know that's not true, right Kendrick?…Kendrick?"

They turned to see that I had curled up into the fetal position, sobbing and quietly repeating 'stop' over and over again.

"Kendrick?" Chopper said, reaching forward.

I looked up and screamed, Chopper and the others were warped and twisted into impossible shapes of madness and terror. I panicked and teleported away, only to find myself surrounded by even more apparitions, fire and pain enveloping my being. Everything and nothing made sense, my memories finally returning in probably the stupidest way possible.

"Damn that idiot!" I screamed angrily. "It all his fault."

"No, he saved us." I countered. "He gave us a reason to live."

"And infinitely more reasons to die!"

My internal dialogue was interrupted by impossible amounts of pain. I was loosing control and teleporting at random, my true visage coming forth. I screamed and screamed, the pain of years past returning all at once. I remembered the cutting and the jabbing and the burning and the boiling. I remembered all of it.

Eventually I stopped teleporting, not having the energy to keep it up. This left me writhing alone in the darkness of the pain. I heard voices all around me, some sounding closer than others.

"What is this thing!" Someone yelled. "Where did it come from!"

"It seems to match the description of the creature you found on Drum Island Miss All-Sunday, is this it?" A different voice said.

"Yes, it is." A familiar voice said, calming me down. "I don't know why it's here though."

When the voice stopped, the pain worsened again.

"T…t…tal…ta…k." I struggled to get out.

"Hey it's trying to say something!" An annoying voice interjected. "Spit it out! Say it, say it, say it! It's so slow!"

"Talk…" I finally said, slowly regaining control of my voice.

"Talk?" The nice voice said. "What do you mean?"

"Please…y-you make it…go away." I stuttered.

"What? Make what to away?" The nice one asked.

"The pain, it hurts." I said. "Please, make it stop."

"How?"

"I…I don't know. You make it go away, make it better. Please, help me."

Nothing was said for a moment, so I started to panic.

"Please, don't leave." I begged. "I'm scared, it hurts."

"What hurts?" A different voice asked.

"Everything." I replied. "They won't stop. We beg and beg, but they don't stop. They break and tear and remove and add, they corrupt us. They broke us, fixed us, then broke us again. The nice voice, she fixes us."

"Who did this to you?" The nice one asked.

"We did, everyone did. They took turns, said it was our fault." I replied. "Said that we told them to, but they lie. We didn't choose this, we were tricked. We want Robin back, she fixed us like you do. She was special, made us safe."

I curled up to be as small as I could, trying to block out the pain. My tentacles whipped around randomly, sometimes grazing something. One of them touched something that made the pain lessen, the others quickly latching onto whatever it was and pulling it close. I heard a gasp of surprise as I pulled it over and wrapped myself around it, holding it close. It smelt familiar, and then it hit me. It was Robin.

"Please don't leave Robin, not again." I begged, her presence calming me down. "I need you."

"What if someone takes me away?" Robin asked, sounding sad and scared.

"I'll kill them. I'll rip and tear and eat as much as I have to until I get you back." I said. "I was made for it."

The darkness slowly faded, along with the pain. I realized that we were laying on a table, the one in Crocodiles base. I let go of her and slid off the table to a standing position.

"I hope that you have a good explanation for this Miss All-Sunday." Crocodile said dangerously.

"Miss All-Sunday is dead." I said, turning back to "normal". "She died on Drum Island. Now listen closely you ingrate."

"What gives you the right-" Mr. 1 (the one that can turn into blades) started.

"Silence human!" I roared at him, peeling back my disguise for a moment.

He was so surprised and frightened that he didn't even react for a while, only blinking when he realized what happened.

"As I was saying." I continued, turning back to Crocodile. "You will go forward with you plans, excluding Robin as she will leave with me, and do everything you can to succeed."

"Aren't you friends with the Straw Hats?" Mr. 2 asked. "Shouldn't you be trying to stop us?"

"That was before they betrayed me." I replied, causing Robins eyes to widen. "And I'm sure that your plan will succeed, even without Robin. Now, we take our leave."

I grabbed Robins hand and took us back to the ship, leaving her there when I teleported again. This time I went to the last place me and the others had been in the desert, focusing to find any emotions nearby. I got lucky and sensed a flair of shock, teleporting myself there instantly. I appeared between Luffy, who was sitting against a tree, and the others.

"Good, you guys are still moving." I said, surprising them. "I don't have time to explain, just continue without me. Robin and I will meet you in Alubarna later, good luck."

Before they could say anything, I teleported back to the ship to find Robin surrounded by the Dugongs.

"Halt!" I shouted, getting my student's attention. "She's with me."

They quickly ignored her and turned their attention to me, excited at my return.

"Now listen!" I commanded. "I have a new mission for you! The others from earlier are expected to cross the river at some point, so I need you to head upstream and wait for them. Once they arrive, probably on a giant crab, you need to defend them and help them across the river. Do you understand!"

They all cheered and saluted.

"Then what are you waiting for!" I shouted. "Get to it!"

They leapt off the ship and swam away as fast as they could. I turned to Robin and smiled.

"Everything's going as planned. All that's left is to trust Luffy to succeed." I said.

"I thought Luffy betrayed you?" Robin asked, confused.

"Hahaha~ Of course he didn't, I just needed to convince them that their plan was safe." I explained. "Trust me, it's far more likely that the seas dry up then Luffy intentionally betraying…anything really."

"Intentionally?"

"You know, mind control and such. It's not fair to hold him accountable for things he can't control."

Nothing was said for a while, Robin seemed to be thinking about something and I was watching her, smiling.

"It's rude to stare, Mr. Monster." Robin eventually said.

"I'm sorry, but it's only natural to want to look at pretty things." I replied.

Robin didn't respond, but I swear she blushed a little. Maybe.

"I'm sure you have lots of questions, but I need to feed. Do you want anything to eat?" I asked.

"I'll let you surprise me." Robin replied.

I smirked and teleported back to Nanohana, surprising a few people when I suddenly appeared from nowhere. I wandered to a center-ish location that had many people as possible, looking around for my targets.

"The moms of Baroque Works members are cheap whores!" I screamed as loud as I could.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me, scandalized. A few of them stepped forward and drew weapons.

"You take that back!" One of them demanded.

"Why? It doesn't make your new brothers any less real." I replied nonchalantly.

One of the agents roared and rushed me, winding back for his swing. I ducked under the blade and grabbed his arm, breaking it. The agent screamed and I slammed his head to the ground, spattering it like a watermelon.

"Damn, I forgot they need to be alive." I muttered as his spirit faded.

I turned to the rest and launched forward, breaking the spine of an agent before they recovered. In an instant they were on me, swinging wildly to try to hit me. I was content to simply dodge as they started thinning their own numbers, their desperate attempts to land a strike owing up in their faces. I quickly grew bored and used my tentacles to help me finish them off.

* * *

Soon they were nothing more than a pile of twitching bodes at my feet, robbed of any Beri they had so I could get something for Robin on the way back. I hurried to scarf them down, causing a few members of the crowd that had gathered to become violently ill at the carnage before them.

Once I was finished I left the leftovers and walked off to the restaurant Luffy had found our first time here, the only one I had any idea of where it was. I didn't know what Robin would want so I got a variety platter, even more agents barging in as it was being prepared. I dashed through them and shattered their spines, robbing them of any mobility. I finished them off just as the food was finished, leaving behind whatever they had in their pockets as payment.

* * *

I returned to the ship and found Robin reading.

"Once we get to Alubarna they'll have even more books for you." I said, causing her to jump slightly.

"Kendrick, you back." She remarked. "I didn't hear you return."

"Sorry, forgot how quiet I can be." I apologized, setting her food next to her. "Hopefully this will make up for it."

"Thank you Mr. Monster, I appreciate it." Robin said, starting to eat.

I pulled up a chair and sat next to her, relaxing.

"Robin, if you don't mind I'd like to wait and answer questions when everyone else is here." I said when I felt a flair of curiosity from her.

"Alright. How long until we leave for Alubarna?" She asked instead.

"When the Dugongs return, that signals both that the others made it across the river and our departure for the Glyph." I replied.

"The Glyph?" Robin muttered, sounding confused.

"The Poneglyph. The thing you've been looking for all this time, remember?". I said, closing my eyes. "I would tell you what it says, but I'm guessing you want to see it for yourself."

Robin didn't say anything, but I felt a wave of amusement from her. I relaxed and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

It went better than usual, no horrible nightmares so I actually got some rest. I only awoke when I felt a large surge of fury from off in the distance, probably from Luffy's fight with Crocodile. It was then that I realized a flaw with my plan, if Robin wasn't with Crocodile then she couldn't save Luffy. I panicked and focused onto Luffys emotions, waiting for the right moment.

* * *

Eventually I felt desperation coming from him, and I assumed that he was trapped in the sinkhole.

"Robin, there's a problem." I said, jumping up. "I need to save Luffy, but first I'm going to take you to the palace."

"What happened?" Robin asked, standing.

"I forgot that Luffy loses the first time." I explained. "I'm going to help him, but I need you to disable all of the palaces cannons."

"Alright." She said.

"Are you ready?" I asked, receiving an affirmative nod. "Then let's go."

I teleported us to the palace and dropped off Robin, then teleported to Luffy. I ran to the sinkhole and dove in, searching for any sign of the rubber-boy. Eventually I found him, and immediately teleported us to Raindinners to get him some food and water.

I took care of the agents and gave Luffy some meat, treating his injury the best I could. I was a while before he could move without coughing up any blood, and he was ready and rearing to go once he had his strength back.

"Where have you been?" Luffy asked, stretching.

"I'll explain everything later, we need to go." I said, grabbing him and teleporting.

We appeared back in the palace, out in the entrance courtyard. I wasn't excited that the first thing I saw was Crocodile, rearing back to slash Robin with his hook. I teleported between them and took the blow, being knocked or the ground in the process.

"Kendrick!" Someone cried.

I stood and glared at Crocodile, who was laughing.

"_Hahaha~_ How nice, another fool willing to sacrifice himself." He laughed.

"_Heh~_ You think a little scrape like this is going to do me in?" I smirked. "You don't know anything, do you?"

I stuck out my arm, a crazy look in my eyes.

"_Heheheh~_ If you think a pathetic human like you can hurt me, then you're welcome to try!" I screamed, laughing.

Crocodile looked surprised, then smirked and raised his hand in the air.

"**Desert Blade**!" He shouted, bringing down his arm.

A wave of sand came down and chopped my arm off at the elbow, cutting a large hole into the ground. I laughed and rushed forward, jumping onto Crocodiles chest and getting right in his face.

"Is that all you got, brat!" I yelled. "Spawnlings could hurt me better than you!"

Crocodile roared and grabbed my face, slamming me into the ground. He held me there for a while, growing more and more confused as nothing happened.

"_Heh~_ Your little trick won't work on me asshole." I laughed, muffled slightly from being pressed into the ground.

I teleported away and came at him again, this time hitting him in the face. I felt his nose shatter under my fist as he flew into the wall of the palace. I looked around and saw everyone gaping at me, shocked.

"Sorry about that, lost it for a minute there." I said, teleporting away and back again.

I was carrying a large barrel of water with a hose connected to it, and a backup barrel as well. I walked over to Luffy and handed one to him, setting the other on the ground.

"Use this to help you beat Crocodile." I said, walking over to the king and Vivi.

"If you don't mind, could you please take Robin here to see the Poneglyph." I asked King Cobra. "It's very important to her."

"The Poneglyph!" Kind Cobra exclaimed. "Do you have any idea what's written on it!"

"Yes, information about Pluton." I said, shocking the king. "But Robin needs to see it for herself."

"I…but…I suppose I could, from what Vivi has told me you two have been helping her." Cobra conceded. "It's the least I could do for all you have done."

"That's very…kind of you." I said, pausing to kick Crocodile back towards Luffy. "I understand the trust you putting in us by showing the Poneglyph to her, we appreciate it."

"**Gum-Gum Bazooka**!" Luffy yelled, quickly followed by the sound of something being broken.

"And we're sorry about the palace." I said, sweat-dropping.

"It's no trouble, you saved our country." Vivi smiled.

"No Vivi, you saved your country." I said. "If you hadn't become our friend, we wouldn't have cared what happened here. I should go find the others, they are probably finishing up their fights right now."

I walked away, stopping to clothes-line Crocodile as he flew past me, and into the city. The others had already gathered in the square, so it was easy to find them.

"Hey guys." I said.

"Aaahh! Kendrick, what happened to you!" Chopper shouted.

I looked down and realized that the cut was still there and my arm was still gone.

"Oh, sorry." I said, healing myself. "I forgot about that."

"How did you do that?" Usopp asked.

"I'll explain everything later, for now we should head to the palace and watch Luffy beat down Crocodile." I said, turning back the way I came.

As we walked back, the sounds of he battle grew louder and louder. Suddenly there was a massive tremor that knocked us to the ground, and I heard Luffy scream.

"Shit, what happened?" I thought, teleporting back to the courtyard.

The ground there looked like someone went at it with an army of jack hammers, and Luffy was sunk waist deep in it. For the second time that day I saw Crocodile rearing back to hurt someone I cared for, and I pissed me off immensely. I teleported over and took the blow, finding that he had taken the case off his hook.

"What's wrong, my captain beating you so bad you had to resort to poisons?" I mocked, pulling Luffy out of the ground with a tentacle.

I glanced back and saw that he had already been poisoned.

"Luffy, go find Robin." I demanded. "She has the cure, without it you're going to die."

"That can wait, I still need to kick his ass!" Luffy exclaimed, sounding a little woozy.

"No, it can't." I stared with finality. "Go. Now."

Luffy started to say something, but I have him a look that didn't allow any disagreement. He nodded and left to find Robin.

"So now instead of watching your captain die slowly, I'm watching you die slowly." Crocodile smirked. "Not much has changed, someone is still going to die."

"That's where you're wrong, no-one is going to die here." I stated. "Do you want to know why?"

"Why."

"Because you can't kill what was never alive!" I shouted, rearing back and punching him in the face again.

Crocodile stumbled back and I kicked him in the gut, knocking him to the ground.

"H-how? How does some no-name rookie have Haki?" Crocodile muttered.

"Because I have a dream, one that I'm willing to put anything on the line for!" I exclaimed. "Because I have a family to protect, and because I have a reason to live!"

I rushed forward and kicked Crocodile into the air, teleporting behind him and punching him back to the ground. He recovered and flew forward, slashing wildly in fury.

"What wrong brat, am I making you angry?" I mocked.

"Be quiet and die!" He screamed. "**Desert Arrows**!"

Spears of sand shot from his body, too fast and too many for me to dodge. I flew back and was nailed to the palace wall, crucified almost.

"**Desert Blade**!"

I was cut in half shoulder to waist, not a pleasant experience, and then speared by Crocodiles hook.

"You know you're making it very hard for me to not kill you." I said.

"What are you talking about?" Crocodile asked, sounding amused.

"For the future to be secure, I have to beat you without killing you." I explained. "And at the rate this is going, I'm going to have to feed once the battle is over."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Crocodile demanded.

"It would be better if I showed you." I said, arresting my head and biting his arm.

Crocodile screamed and threw me to the ground, not at all prepared for what I did. I spit the sand out of my mouth and healed, standing as I did so.

"Hey asshole!" I shouted, getting his attention. "**Hundred Punch**!"

I teleported close and punched him, using the momentum to do it again…and again…and again, a hundred times. It ease over in a moment, and Crocodile was covered in bruises and had at least three broken ribs. I grabbed him and dragged him over to the courtyards entrance, grabbing some rope on the way there.

Once I was done Crocodile was hanging upside down from the doorway, ready for the Marines to take him away. I looked around and realized that everyone had returned, all of them staring at me.

"So you found Robin in time, good." I said to Luffy. "I'm sorry about earlier, but I didn't want to lose you so soon."

Luffy nodded, conveying that everything was ok.

"So it's finally over, Crocodiles plan has failed." Vivi said, tears coming to her eyes. "The country is finally safe."

"I still can't quite believe Crocodile was behind it all." Kohza stated. "The Hero of Alabasta, its greatest enemy."

"It's not over." Robin declared, pointing at the clock tower. "Before we left, Crocodile revealed too me a backup plan. There is a bomb in that tower, ticking away as we speak."

"Shit! I can't believe I forgot!" I exclaimed, panicking. "What are going to do, it's probably about blow any second now!"

I thought for a moment, then had an idea. An awful idea. A stupid idea. The only idea I had.

"Ok, listen. I have an idea, but I need something from you." I said to Robin.

"What is it?"

I reached out and pulled her into a kiss, surprising her to no end.

"A good luck kiss." I whispered, teleporting to the top of the clock tower.

The two agents stationed there jumped at my sudden appearance.

"Who are y-" The frog one started, interrupted by me rushing forward and tearing out her throat.

I constricted the other before he could react and devoured them both, turning to the giant cannon once I was finished. I climbed in and held onto the bomb, teleporting us high into the air.

_5…_

We started falling back to Alubarna, so I looped us in the air by teleporting again and again.

_4…_

I thought of my life up to this point. I went from being some shit kid to being some shit abomination, the whole point of the deal was to have a better life and I start with a handicap.

_3…_

I thought about Robin, and about how mad she probably was at me for kissing her.

"_Totally worth it._" I thought, smirking.

_2…_

I thought about the others. About Luffy, Vivi, Nami and Chopper. About Usopp and Zoro and Sanji, about all the fun times we had together. And now it's coming to an end.

"No." I reprimanded myself. "I'm going to make it. After all, you can only kill what's alive."

_1._


End file.
